


Head On

by Batzy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bad Decisions, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, It's a story about zombies, LOTS of violence, M/M, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse, no seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 14:11:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14286639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batzy/pseuds/Batzy
Summary: Only a joke of cosmic proportions could explain how Noel went from hitting it off with the guy of his dreams, to holing up with his jackass of a neighbor, surrounded by zombies.





	1. Chapter 1

Noel sighed into his drink, his soda bubbling up as he blew into the straw. His eyes shot from the cup to the side, searching for half a second until they set upon their initial target.

"Stop that."

"Hm?"

More bubbles.

Fiona yanked the cup out of Noel's hands, and he finally looked at the woman sitting across the table from him.  
"You're being annoying." Fiona groused, refusing to hand it back when Noel reached out. "Just ask him out already. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Well, he can say no," Noel answered, matching Fiona's frown with his own. "He could also humiliate me in front of everyone here."

Not that anyone else in the food court was paying attention to him, nor did they remotely care about his love life. He entertained the thought that a few of them might. Especially a certain someone.

"I doubt he'd humiliate you." But turning him down was apparently definitely on the table. Great. Her confidence in him soared to epic levels.

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't even know if he's gay."

"Trust me honey, he's gay," Fiona stated with certainty as she checked her phone, her fingernails clacking on the screen. "I've got to go. Look, you've got a class with him, right? Just, ask him if there's homework or a test, see if he'll study with you or something."

Fiona grabbed her book and the pieces of paper laid out all over the table, stuffing it all haphazardly into her bag before slinging it over her back. Noel waved her off, then slumped into his chair, back to nursing his soda.

Noel couldn't go up and just _ask_ him. He'd _know_.

He glanced over again to see Terry in the same spot as before, sitting among his friends in the leather couches the school provided. He felt like a creeper, even more so when Terry looked around, locking eyes with him.

Noel tried to pretend he was looking past him, but he knew Terry had caught him when the other man stood up and approached his table.

"You're... Noel, right? From English?"

Noel nodded, his face heating up when Terry took the initiative to sit down in the seat Fiona recently vacated. He didn't miss the hesitation in Terry's voice when he said Noel's name, but hey, it was only a few weeks ago when they were first introduced to each other due to a brief assignment. It lasted the duration of the class, and they discussed little besides the assignment.

Noel was just surprised he hadn't forgotten his name entirely.

It filled him with _feelings_. Feelings that sent warm fuzzies a-flying in his stomach and holy crap he needed to stop hanging around Fiona. Ever since he officially came out- to her and other close friends, she'd taken it upon herself to be his personal… well, he didn't like the term she used, but she was his best friend, and that was that.  
And he was gay.

Terry was hot. Terry was smart. Terry liked to play sports.

Did he mention Terry was hot?

And apparently calling his name.

Fingers snapped in front of Noel's face, and Noel jerked slightly in surprise.

"You okay in there?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry. Remembered something, don't..." Noel waved his hand, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. What were you saying?"

"English class. The test isn't tomorrow, right?" Terry asked, getting himself comfortable despite his friends calling out to him that they were leaving. He lifted his hand to them, and Noel felt a little better that he still had Terry's attention. For a moment, he wondered if Terry had overheard his conversation with Fiona, about conversation starters.

"No. That's next week."

Terry gave a little, desperate laugh. "Thank fuck. I was freaking out, thinking it was tomorrow."

Noel shook his head. One side of Terry's mouth lifted as he surveyed Noel.

"You don't talk much, do you?" He asked, and Noel shrugged.

"Not really. Sorry..."

Not true in the slightest. Noel was known to talk for hours. He just needed the right audience. Like one he wasn't worried about being embarrassed in front of. Or those he didn't have what was the equivalent of a high school crush on. Because Noel was an absolute derp that didn't know how to flirt or ask people on dates.

Like a _teenager_.

No, less than that, because all the teenagers he went to high school with didn't seem to have a problem hooking up with anyone and everyone around them.

Which wasn't quite true and might possibly be a bit of a bitchy attitude to take, yeah, but. _Still_.

"Hey, do you know she wants for this next essay?" Terry asked, leaning toward Noel. "She's always marking things off because I'm not doing it in the right _format_ , but she keeps changing it on me."

Terry looked so in need that Noel wasn't sure how to respond with anything other than another shrug. "She's pretty strict about MLA, but she's got examples up on how to format the paper and cite correctly, so..."

"I tried looking at that but I'm still confused as hell. I mean, what am I supposed to do if it's a book I found online? Do   
I do it as a web page, or what?"

"Like an e-book?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"I'm not sure. I'd have to look it up."

Terry perked up at that. "Mind taking a look over it with me? Maybe meet me in lab in the English department before class tomorrow, or whenever you can?"

Do not squeak, voice. Or break, or crack, or disappear.

"I-I guess?" Not perfect, but Terry didn't seemed fazed by the small stutter, and it gave Noel hope that he would have a chance to work on it.

Because _that_ was something to get excited for, apparently.

"Great! How about we meet at 3? Here, in case you can't make it," Terry rummaged through his bag, pulling out a notebook and pen. He scribbled something short before ripping it out and handing it to Noel. "I'll see you, yeah?"

Noel nodded, turning the paper over in his hands as Terry smiled and stood up to leave.

It was a very weird turn of events that Noel would end up with Terry's number without even _doing_ anything other than saying a few words here and there. Maybe things were starting to look up for him?

No, they really, really weren't. They got worse in the most unimaginable way.


	2. Chapter 2

"You left your laundry in the machine again."

Noel almost screamed when the voice floated in from behind. Not that he had any dignity left, because he definitely jumped about three feet and almost rammed himself into his apartment door trying to get away.

He turned to face Ruben, his perpetually angry next-door neighbor.

Another of his exaggerations, of course, as Ruben was nice to everyone _except_ for him, and Noel just could _not_ figure _out_ why the guy hated him so much.

"Sorry," Noel managed when his heart left his throat and went back into his chest. "I'll- I'll take care of that."

Ruben thrust a laundry basket in Noel's arms, and Noel almost dropped the sudden gift. At first he was confused, was Ruben expecting _him_ to do Ruben's laundry? Belatedly, Noel realized it was his own sopping wet clothes in the basket, and before he had a chance to pretend like he was thinking of berating his neighbor, the man was already walking away.

Noel watched as he disappeared down the stairs, likely to take care of his own laundry, before he hiked the basket to his hip and went back to working on unlocking his front door.

Once he was inside, he set the basket on the floor and stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out what to do with it. Obviously, going back and putting it in the shared dryer was out of the question, as Ruben might actually be there like Noel thought, and he was embarrassed enough already.

He wouldn't let the crabby neighbor bring him down _too_ much. Just feeling the paper in his pocket put him back in high spirits.

Noel pulled it out, as well as his cell phone, tapping buttons and pressing save. He contemplated sending a quick text to Terry, to let the man have his number as well, but a thought struck before he pressed send. What if this wasn't what Noel thought? What if getting help was really all Terry wanted, and afterward, he wanted nothing to do with Noel?

Instead, he sent a message to Fiona, updating her on the new and exciting things happening in his life. Which, really, it was kind of sad that this was the most that happened to him in a while.

Despite being in class, she was quick to text back.

_Bt wat abt class?_

Crap, he forgot about that. The class he shared with Fiona started at 3, and lasted until ten minutes before English. Noel scratched his head, thinking.

_Its just one class_ he texted back. The teacher wouldn't miss him, and it was a review day, anyway. His phone beeped with another reply

_If u say so :/_

***

The next day brought nervousness, both from meeting up with his crush, and for skipping class. He didn't like skipping class. Skipping class was bad.

But he had already agreed to it, and he didn't want to be one of _those_ people, known for always rescheduling or not wanting to shift things around so that they could make it work.

Noel arrived at the almost empty computer lab. A few people were scattered apart, but Terry wasn't among them.

Noel frowned but sat himself in one of the chairs, turning his computer on and letting it warm up before typing in his username and password.

It was as he was thinking of texting Terry to make sure he was in the right place, let alone if they were still doing this, when the missing man showed, breathing hard. He smiled widely when he caught Noel's eyes.

"Sorry," Terry panted. "Lost track of time."

He started his own computer as well, dropping his bag off to the side and leaning back in his chair.

"It's all good," Noel assured him.

"You know," Terry said once he regained his breath, "I was kind of expecting you to let me know what your number was."

Oh. Well.

"I can, uh, I can give it to you now, I guess?" Noel pulled his phone out of his pocket like he needed to prove he was willing to do this. He didn't tell Terry that he had his number already saved in his phone.

"Yeah, here," Terry handed over his own cell, already set to add a new contact. When Noel handed it back, Terry typed something, and seconds later Noel heard a beep.

_;)_

Noel smiled when he saw the random message underneath Terry's name.

"So, e-book, MLA, how do I do?" Terry asked after pulling up his essay. Noel turned to his computer, opening up a browser and typed in a website.

"This one is usually pretty good at telling you how to set it up," Noel explained, moving out of the way so that Terry could get a good look. His hands flew along his own keyboard, trading out the information to match up with his citation.

"Well, that was easy," Terry grouched incredulously. Noel shrugged. It was what it was. "Okay, well, thanks for helping me out."

Terry looked to be in no hurry to leave though.

"It's not a problem." Even though he was missing a class for this.

Things like that bugged him.

"Tell me about yourself." Terry ordered, turning the chair to face Noel.

Noel gave him an odd look. "I'm not... sure what to say, really."

Terry waved his hand. "Basics then. What's your major?"

"Open. I'm just doing gen eds right now."

Truth be told, Noel had no idea what to do with his future. The only reason he even went to college was to make his parents happy. It didn't occur to them that going to college without any direction wouldn't do him much good. He'd still be wrapping burgers then as he did now.

"I'm looking into renewable energy myself. Music?"

"A little bit of everything."

"I like rock. Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold, Breaking Benjamin. Have you heard of Volbeat?"

Noel shook his head. "No. Sorry."

"You're missing out," Terry said. "I'll show you them sometime."

The rest of the time before English was spent with similar small talk, with Terry asking questions that Noel could only give short answers to. He wasn't good with people, and apparently even worse with people he _liked_. Really- most of his friends only became his friends after approaching him.

And not leaving.

Which sounded pitiful, but was actually kind of annoying because some people stuck to him like glue and he didn't have the heart to tell them to leave. Like Fiona.

That was a dirty, dirty lie. Fiona was like his sister.

When they left to get to class, Terry didn't leave his side, chattering away about some sport he played that Noel didn't understand the rules of, but nodded anyway when Terry asked him, "isn't that stupid?"

Terry even followed him to his seat, and sat next to him, only quieting when the teacher cleared her throat and gave him a pointed look. She then proceeded to bemoan her troubles due to more than half her class not showing up.

***

"You're such a dork," Fiona said fondly when Noel told her of his time with Terry and his own inability to hold up his end of the conversation.

"I _know_. Trust me." Noel mumbled through his hands. "I couldn't think of _anything_ to say or to ask."

"The way I see it, he's got the hots for you. You just need to let him know you're warm for him too."

"Warm?" Noel dropped his hands to see her fiddling with something on his phone. "What're you doing?"

"Helping?"

With what?

No. Oh no.

"Give it- give it here!" Noel launched himself off the couch toward her, but she jumped out of the way and he fell to the floor with a thud empty-handed. " _Fiona_!"

" _And_ , sent."

Noel snatched the phone out of her hands, mortified. He scrolled through his sent message to see a recent one to Terry that he most certainly did not send.

_Id lke 2get2 no u btr. Date?_

It was as bad as he thought.

"Damn it. At the very least you could do it legibly," Noel scolded, quickly typing another message.

_Sorry, friend got my phone. Ignore that._

Noel glared at his meddling friend, intending to tell her just how much he _didn't_ appreciate her help, when a knock on his door interrupted him.

When Noel peeked through the peephole, a familiar unfriendly face greeted him. He sighed before opening his door.

"I don't know about you, but us people with _jobs_ would like to _sleep_ so they can get up in the morning to _continue going to those jobs without being tired_." Ruben ground out through clenched teeth.

"I-I'm sorry. We'll keep it down."

Ruben searched his face for a few seconds, looking for the lie, then his gaze slid to the side to see Fiona further inside the apartment. Fiona smiled awkwardly, waggling her fingers until Ruben gave a huff and turned on his heel.

"Who was _that_?" Fiona came up behind Noel in an attempt to get a better look at Ruben's retreating form. The neighbor in question noticed her interest when he went to unlock his door, giving her a frown as he stepped into his own apartment.

"Ruben. My neighbor. He hates me," Noel answered casually, shutting the door.

"What's with those-" she waved a hand in front of her face, "those scars on his face?"

The scars Fiona referenced were multiple small pinkish lines that littered the left half of Ruben's face, and left his eyebrow shredded. The scars ran down his neck, probably down his body, if Noel was to guess.

"He was in the army."

"That doesn't answer my question!" Fiona hissed, but Noel could only shake his head.

"I have no idea. I never asked, and I have no intention of doing so. It's none of my business."

Fiona hmphed. "He's cute though."

"I wouldn't know. I told you, he hates me."

"Oh honey, it's about time you learned, you don't have to like someone to fuck them."

Noel flushed and said, "we are _not_ having this conversation."

"I just don't get how you don't see it. Sure, there are scars, but I think they kinda... add to it, you know? Gives him character."

"I'm sure he'd be glad to hear you think so." Noel snarked. "He'll think it was all worth it then."

"I'm only saying." Fiona scoffed, laying herself out on the couch and pulling out her phone.

Noel could possibly see it. Without the sludge of douchiness that covered him, Ruben might pass for good looking. On a good day. If there were no other men on Earth.

And if Noel were being realistic, yeah, Ruben was handsome. Not hot like Terry, but... attractive. He had short, light brown hair with eyes to match. A splattering of freckles crossed his face along with the scars, and the army had done his physique good. While not a body builder by a long shot, the muscles were obvious, and even with his shirt on, his body looked hard.

Unfortunately, a good body and a nice face didn't make up for him being a jackass, and Noel couldn't get over the fact that the man was the nicest to the other neighbors, even the ones that liked to play rock music at 2 in the morning, but then turned around and bitched at Noel for taking his usual parking space.

_There were three spots around Noel's car that he could have taken_.

"Did I miss anything in class?" Noel asked, patting Fiona's leg until she lifted them. She lowered them down into Noel's lap when he got into place on the couch.

"Nah, not really. Literally only five people showed up. He gave us extra credit for coming, spent ten minutes going over stuff for the test and let us go."

"Only five? There weren't many people in English today, either."

"Huh. I heard there some virus hitting the bigger cities. West coast, but it's coming our way. Think it's-"

"Read this," Noel shoved his phone in Fiona's face, effectively cutting her off. Any other time she would have smacked him or some such, instead, she smiled.

"'So that's a no on the date?' Winky face." She read out loud, then threw the phone back at him. "I see it's from Terry. Tell him you never said that."

"Never said what? That there was no date?" He began to write something, erased it, then looked at Fiona for guidance.

"No, that you didn't say there wasn't a date."

"I'm not sure- what?"

"Here, give it here." Fiona typed out a message and sent it. Within moments, she received a reply. "Guess who's got a date tomorrow?"

"I swear, Fiona. You better say me."

"Tell me who your most favorite person in the world is." Fiona said when she handed back Noel's phone. He read the messages with a hopeful expression, and when he saw the last one, his face cracked into a grin.


	3. Chapter 3

"Keep it nice, but informal. I doubt he's taking you anywhere fancy. Don't forget your wallet, and make sure you take condoms."

"I don't think it's going to go that far..." Noel cleared his throat, eyes wide at the suggestion.

"Never know where the night's going to take you," Fiona said. She grabbed a few shirts and put them on the bed. "It's always best to plan ahead. Take a shower before you go, too, and brush your teeth."

"You know, this isn't the first date I've been on."

"Yeah, but it's the first date you've been on with a guy, and with someone who's happy to take the initiative."

"I can take _initiative_ ," Noel huffed.

Fiona raised a brow at him and sniffed. " _Please_."

Noel shooed her out of the way. "I'll show you. I'll take _initiative_ and wear this."

He picked up one of the shirts Fiona laid out for him. She eyed him speculatively, taking it out of his hands to hold it up to him. Then, she dropped it on the floor and shoved another in his hands.

Noel sighed but took the shirt graciously and went to change.

***

Terry arrived five minutes early with a bright smile and smelled of a nice cologne. His blond hair was styled neatly, his green eyes shining.

"I'm not too early, am I?" He asked when Noel stepped outside the building and made sure the door shut behind him. He didn't want Ruben to get pissed at him for leaving it open again, since only those with the code were supposed to be able to get in. Noel shook his head to Terry's question. "Good. I'm not going to lie, I got excited and couldn't wait."

"It's fine."

Noel stuffed his hands in his pockets as they walked down the sidewalk to the parking lot. The sky was starting to darken with the coming night.

Terry filled the air with idle chatter that Noel did his best to mimic, grateful when Terry didn't seem offended by his hesitations or stretches of silence. They took Terry's car to their destination, a small little restaurant where the people knew Noel's date by name.

"I grew up with some of these people," Terry explained when the third server stopped by to say hello and chat for a few minutes.

"You lived here long?" Noel asked as their plates were set in front of them by a cheerful girl that gave Terry a wink.

"All my life. I know this city like the back of my hand." Terry stuffed a few fries into his mouth, then continued. "Honestly, I haven't really been out of it. I'd like to go traveling some day. Maybe Europe. I've been taking a German class, so I might head up there."

"Viel Gluck."

"Uh. What?"

"Good luck."

"Oh! Thanks? You know German?"

Noel shook his head. "No. I just know that. And," He looked up to the ceiling in the hopes that it would help him remember, "wo ist das Badezimmer? Where is the bathroom."

"Always important to know," Terry chuckled. "If you had the opportunity, where would you go?"

Noel mulled it over for a minute. There were a lot of places he'd like to see. His family never had money, and the vacations outside of the small town he was born in were few and far between. But it wasn't hard to imagine where he'd like to go some day.

"An island, maybe. Something tropical."

"Oh yeah? Like Madagascar, with the movie?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of Hawaii, but sure."

"I see, I see." Terry ducked his head, now tearing bits of his burger apart before eating it. "What about your family? They live near here?"

"No. Mom and dad moved to Florida to take care of my grandma last year after my grandpa died. No siblings though."

"Lucky," Terry snorted. "Six. Six freaking siblings, and I'm the youngest. All they do is terrorize me whenever I go home for break."

"I thought the youngest were supposed to be the most spoiled?"

"Yeah, by the parents. My older brothers are little shits though." Terry spent the next half hour detailing their shenanigans, and Noel found himself laughing through most of it, much to Terry's faked chagrin. Apparently this was to show how _bad_ he had it. No really.

The restaurant was slowly emptying until Terry and Noel were the last ones left, and their server was sweeping the floor. The check was brought ages ago, and when Noel went to grab it, Terry snatched it away.

"I don't mind," Noel said. He was the one who asked Terry out in the first place. Well, actually that was Fiona, but it felt wrong to have Terry paying.

"You can grab it next time," Terry replied with a wink as he stood. He left to pay at the counter, leaving a flabbergasted Noel to sit in the booth, a pleased smile forming on his face until his date came back. "I really, _really_ hate having to cut this short, but I have a test I have to submit online by midnight tonight..."

"Oh, no, I get it, its fine," Noel assured him, standing. They left the building, Terry giving whoever was still in there a wave.

"It's stupid though. We were supposed to take it in class today, but the teacher canceled last minute, and sent an e-mail telling us to get it in by tonight. Hello, plans?" The conversation paused for a second as they got into Terry's car.

"That's shitty," Noel agreed. "Did he at least say why he canceled?"

"No, but I overheard one of his TAs talking. I guess he got attacked the other night. Some jack-off bit him over a bad grade."

"Yeesh, that's a bit... weird? I'd say extreme, but I guess it could be worse?"

"Right? I think he's gotta get tested for rabies."

"Did they at least arrest the guy that bit him?"

"I don't think so. Aria- the TA- said he knocked the guy out cold to get him off him, but when the cops came he was gone."

"Well shit."

All too soon they pulled into the parking lot of Noel's apartment building. Terry parked into the one open spot closest to the building he could find, and turned the key.

It didn't seem right to get out of the vehicle with Terry looking at him, quiet for the first time all night. He tossed one arm over the back of Noel's seat, his body half turned toward him and his head cocked to the side. Noel could see little from the street lamp that flickered above, but he definitely noticed how Terry learned closer, and warm fingers touched the back of his neck to push him toward the other man.

Soft lips met, and a hand cupped his cheek, angling his head just right to let them fit.

It wasn't Noel's first kiss, and most certainly wasn't Terry's first either, but Noel rated it in the top 10. No, that inferred that Noel had had that many kisses. Top 5?

Terry sucked on his bottom lip, nipping as his hand dropped Noel's face to his waist, playing with the hem of his shirt. Noel shifted toward the middle, wanting to get closer to Terry, only to startle away when he felt pressure on his crotch, the other man having gripped him through his jeans.

Well, that went from 0 to 60 quick.

Terry, rather than backing off at his discomfort, only dropped to his neck, doing to his neck what he'd done to his lip, sucking and nipping that sent all the nicest feelings to the point where he kneaded Noel. Noel gasped and his hips jerked up, his cock filling quickly at the sensation. He knew that they shouldn't be doing this. He hardly knew Terry, and he didn't like the idea of a one-night stand.

But college was about getting a little crazy, whispered a voice in his head that sounded strangely like Fiona. Not what he needed.

Terry continued, even going so far as to get his hands on Noel's zipper before a knock on the window surprised both of them into stopping. Terry turned the key in the ignition and rolled the windows down, music playing softly over the sound of the engine.

Noel groaned when he saw Ruben staring at them from outside, his truck rumbling from behind the car. When Ruben saw him in the passenger seat, he snorted.

"Should've known." Ruben sounded pissed, and it was then that Noel realized they were parked in his spot. _Great_. "You _know_ guests can't park here. I swear, I'm getting the landlord this-"

Noel leaned over Terry to press the button to roll the window back up, getting a thrill at seeing the shock and annoyance duking it out on Ruben's face.

"What the hell was that?" Terry asked when Ruben stormed off to get in his truck and thankfully not in the direction of their landlord.

"My neighbor. He's a bit of a dick."

"A dick?" Terry repeated, like it was an understatement, which, it was.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. I should go though. He might actually call the cops."

Before Noel could exit the car, Terry pulled him in close for one last kiss, licking his lips when they parted.

"I'll see you soon for that second date, right?"

Noel nodded, not trusting his voice, though he was sure his shy smile told Terry everything he needed to know. He watched Terry drive off from the edge of the parking lot, frowning only when Ruben drove his truck in the empty spot. The truck was turned off and the door was slammed in quick succession.

"Don't _even_ ," Noel bit out when Ruben opened his stupid mouth. "I had a good night tonight and I don't need you ruining it for me."

Ruben scoffed, opening his mouth and closing his mouth to refute that, but no words came out. He scoffed again, his hands curling into fists before he shoved himself past the nervous man.

So, _that_ happened.

Today was looking better and better. Despite the little... detour? in Terry's car, Noel hit a few milestones he'd remember forever. A first date and first kiss with Terry- a little more than a date and kiss with Terry in his car, and to top it off, he actually told Ruben off, and the man was speechless! Nothing could bring him down from the elation, not even the familiar drunk guy shambling slowly toward him.

Which was a bit weird, since he never knew Mr. Lieson to drink, but from what Noel knew, the man was in the middle of a custody battle. He watched for a few seconds as Mr. Lieson stumbled his way across the parking lot, bumping into a few cars, but the man kept himself upright. Noel would've stayed to make sure the man got home all right, but he had something to take care of. In his shower. As in five minutes ago.

Despite potentially getting his ass chewed out by an irate neighbor, he left the door open a crack in order to help Mr. Lieson get in. Though he hadn't fallen yet, he barely looked able to stand on his feet, and even as Noel went inside, he saw Mr. Lieson raise an arm out to him, to keep him from letting the door shut. Noel pretended like he didn't see it. There were things happening. In his pants.

_Priorities_.

He charged up the stairs, probably making a raucous that Ruben would complain about tomorrow, and barged into his home, dropping clothes were they fell, making straight for shower. He gave it a moment for it to warm up before stepping inside.

Noel didn't take care of the problem straight off. In fact, his hands didn't stray until his hair was clean and his body soaped and washed thoroughly before he took his dick in hand. He thought of Terry and the way he gripped him out of the blue, what it could have led to if Ruben hadn't interrupted him, teased himself with thoughts of inviting Terry inside next time. He was fully hard as thoughts of falling into bed with him flashed through his mind, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the head. What would it feel like to have something other than his own fingers inside of him?

What would it feel like being inside of Terry?

He came embarrassingly quick, his thighs quivering with his release and his hand chased the feeling until it became too much. Tepid water washed off the evidence, but not the mortification as he thought of what had let to it. Noel was a pervert.

No, no, this was normal. There was nothing wrong with imagining having sex with someone who wanted to have a sexual relationship with him. At least, Noel hoped Terry wanted to have sex with him.

Noel shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. He dried off quickly and went to his room to grab a pair of loose-fitting pants. He was deciding between going to bed and staying up to watch TV when he heard the knock. It wasn't the rapid, angry sounding knock he would expect at this time of night, but a slow, hesitant one. Honestly, it sounded as though someone was slapping his door.

The peephole revealed the top of one balding Mr. Lieson, and Noel grimaced. He hoped it wasn't the man wanting a place to crash. Noel had thought the previous Mrs. Lieson had gone to stay with her sister during the separation, but maybe she was kicking him out?

He couldn't leave the poor man out there, and not when the man was so incessant. Not once had the man stopped knocking.

Noel unlocked the door only to get pushed back as Mr. Lieson fell inside with a thump.

"Hey, are you okay?" Noel asked once he steadied himself, and stooped over the fallen man to help him up.

At first, Mr. Lieson didn't move, but when Noel nudged him, the man suddenly startled, his face rising with a fierce stare, and his hand reached out to grip Noel's arm, yanking him down to snarl in his face.

It was then that Noel noticed something off with Mr. Lieson. More so than the yanking and the snarling, but an actual _medical_ issue. Most noticeably, how the man's jaw was barely hanging on, and as he snarled, part of it snapped, drooping to one side, a river of blood and pus pouring out onto the floor.

Noel screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've no idea what I've done to the chapters but if you noticed any weirdness previously, it should be fixed now! Also, it slipped my mind to update yesterday, so here's two today!

Noel fell to the floor, barely managing to rip his arm away as teeth gnashed the air where the- the _thing_ was holding him. He scooted along the floor, stopping only when he hit the wall with his back.

"Mr. Lieson!" Noel tried, but it was of no use. What used to be Mr. Lieson crawled toward him, pulling himself toward Noel with grasping, bloody hands.

When it went to grab Noel again, before it could get a hold on his leg, Noel kicked out, whacking the creature in the face with his bare foot. The man's head felt softer than a head _should_ , and despite the bad angle and the lack of force behind the kick, he managed to crack the man's chin, so that the jaw was hanging from both sides by just skin.

It didn't stop.

It reached again for Noel, snarling and snapping its broken jaw, and Noel could only stare in wide-eyed terror as it latched onto him, pulling itself almost on top of Noel.

Then, it was gone. Ripped away by none other than Ruben, who tossed the man away. Mr. Lieson hit the wall and fell face up to the floor in a crumbled heap.

Ruben stared at the creature for a full minute, his face of absolute disgust until he rounded on Noel. He knelt by the fallen man, checking for injuries and giving Noel an eyeful. The man was half-naked, wearing only a pair of gym shorts. Just as Noel thought, there were marks covering half of his body, looking less like the small scars on his face and more like healed burn marks.

"What- what're you doing here?"

Because that was the most important thing for Noel to ask. Not _what the fuck was going on_ , or even a thank you for Ruben _saving his life_.

"I heard you scream," Ruben answered shortly once he was sure Noel wasn't hurt. He turned back to the man on the floor. "What the _fuck_ did you do to him?"

"Me?! Why do you think I did anything to him?"

Ruben stood, stepping over to Mr. Lieson despite Noel's warnings.

"Holy _shit_. What happened to his jaw?"

"I don't know. It was like that when he came in. Mostly." Noel shuddered when he remembered what it felt like to kick it. When Ruben raised a brow at him, Noel spilled the details of the evening. "He knocked on the door, I let him in. I didn't see _that_ until he came in. Then he just kept grabbing at me."

Noel looked at Mr. Lieson and shuddered again.

Ruben frowned, crossing his arms over his bare chest, though he didn't question Noel further. "Do you have a rope?"

"Rope?"

"Something to _bind_ him with while I call the cops? You know what, why don't you call and I'll find something."

Cops, cops would work.

Noel went to find his cell still in the pocket of the jeans he dropped in front of the bathroom while Ruben went scrounging around for something to tie up Mr. Lieson. When Noel put in the number, he received nothing but a tone.

"Did you get them?" Ruben asked after turning Mr. Lieson over to wrap his hands together properly. He looked up when Noel was quiet. "Well?"

"Nothing. I tried three times."

Ruben cursed under his breath, his hand coming out to hesitate over Mr. Lieson's neck. He grimaced at the blood and pus that had poured down his front. He said, "Get me a towel."

Ruben didn't complain about the proffered _paper_ towels, using them to wipe down the side of Mr. Lieson's neck to check his pulse. His brows scrunched in confusion, and he moved his fingers to different points, his lessening confidence in knowing _how_ to check pulses showing.

"Here, can you find a pulse?" Ruben asked, moving out of the way. Noel stepped away.

"No? Maybe he's dead?"

Ruben shook his head. "He's moving now."

Sure enough, Mr. Lieson was twitching, first his arms, then his head lolled in the direction Ruben's voice was coming from, his eyes still closed. The jaw slopped off onto the ground, and even Ruben jumped back with a noise. He raised a hand to his mouth as though he was going to be sick. His stomach was stronger than Noel's, however.

By the time Noel had come back from the bathroom, his gaze immediately fell to the man lying on the ground no matter how hard he tried to keep from doing so. Ruben stood next to him, nudging the man back with his foot as Mr. Lieson attempted to shove his body toward the offending offering.

"I don't know how to deal with this," Ruben admitted, scratching his head, looking between the growling man and the jaw on the floor. "Is he sick? Did you try calling for an ambulance?"

Noel tried again but got nothing. A thought occurred to him, and he put in Fiona's number.

It rang a few times, but went to voice-mail. The same happened when he called a few other friends, as well as his parents.

"I'm not getting anyone." Noel said. "Have you tried on yours?"

"It's at my place. Give me a sec." Ruben looked up at him curiously, then down to Mr. Lieson. "Keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't get out."

Noel paled, but nodded, watching as Ruben went back inside his own apartment, shutting the door behind him. He stood half in the hallway, shivering, occasionally looking at the man on his floor who was now rolling himself over, gushing blood and leaving puddles all over his floor. Noel might not have medical knowledge, but the amount he lost, Mr. Lieson shouldn't be conscious.

It took too long for Ruben to get back. Noel was beginning to think that the man had abandoned him to deal with this on his own, when Ruben's door opened and he stepped out, now fully dressed and with his phone in hand. He stopped in front of Noel.

"I can't reach anyone either. I tried the TV but it's static. I-" Ruben stopped, his eyes on something past Noel, toward the stairs that led to the door to the building. "Move."

Noel turned to see what he was looking at, only for Ruben to shove him inside for his trouble. Noel heard someone run up the stairs, big, pounding footsteps.  Noel could feel it through the floor, and it let loose an inhuman screech, slamming against the door just as Ruben shut it, his shoulder braced against it. Whoever was on the other side was strong enough that when they rammed into it, it almost sent Ruben to the floor, but he held his ground. Noel stood there, unsure of what to do other than watch as Ruben locked the door.

The other man looked around, noted the small sofa in Noel's living room, and gestured over to it. "Bring that over here!"

Noel jumped to follow the order, grabbing the arm of the sofa and tugging it over until Ruben moved out of the way and helped him shove it against the door.

Noel stepped over the wiggling Mr. Lieson to back away.

"What was that?" His breath came in hard from the exertion and near panic.

"Vancor." Ruben replied, looking at the door suspiciously.

"The lady on first? The one that can't go up the stairs?"

She claimed it was a medical issue. Noel had heard others gossiping that she couldn't get up there because of her extreme weight.

"Yes. She's- she's out there." For a second Ruben looked nervous as the door rattled and shook from the force of the person behind it. Ms. Vancor, or _whoever_ was out there let out another terrible screech that Mr. Lieson did his best to imitate as he crawled along the floor toward Ruben.

"How? Why? Is she okay?"

" _I don't know_ ," Ruben hissed at Noel, who put his hands up in surrender. It was an innocent question, nothing more.

Ruben went to the window, jerking on the bottom to lift it up, then stuck his head outside as far as the bars on the outside would allow, Mr. Lieson hot on his trails.

As soon as Ruben opened that window, Noel could hear it. Car alarms went off down the street, the unmistakable sound of guns in the distance, and much more concerning, the screams. Noel joined Ruben, nudging the older man so that he could get a look as well.

The street itself looked okay, if not for the flashing lights of a car as someone bounced off it. A number of someones, actually. Four or five people crowded around the vehicle as though drawn by the sound, and Noel could see more on their way to check it out. Rather than trying to stop it, the people were pawing at the vehicle, the hood, the windows, all of it, instead of actually trying to properly get in. None went for the door handles or tried to break the windows.

A man ran down the sidewalk, drawing their attention away from the car.

Before their eyes, they tackled the man to the ground, left to scream as the people swarmed him. Noel didn't have time to so much as comprehend what he'd just seen before the screaming died out, and as a group, the people left, leaving nothing but tattered clothing and dark splotch on the concrete.

Ruben backed away from the window slowly, hand raised over his mouth again, his gaze dropping to where Mr. Lieson growled at him from the floor.

With a growl of his own, Ruben picked the man up by the scruff of his shirt, and took him down the hallway. The door of the second bedroom slammed shut, and Ruben came back, wiping his hands on his jeans. He began to bark orders.

"Fill up every container with water, then the sinks and tub. Get everything that can be used as a weapon and bring them in here. Medical supplies. Towels. Nonperishable foods."

Noel did as he was told with haste. Ruben helped with the water as soon as he had every available container, be it bottle or Tupperware, then went to look in his closets for the second demand.

One handgun, one once used metal bat, a pocketknife and a few kitchen knives were Noel's big haul. Ruben wasn't impressed, especially with the gun.

"Where is the ammo?"

"I don't have any?"

"No ammo? Why the fuck do you not have ammo? Who has a gun and no way to use it?"

"Apparently, the people who were raised in towns so small they felt free to leave their doors unlocked all day without some homeless guy wandering in and robbing them blind." Noel grouched. The only reason he had a gun at all was for his dad's piece of mind.

"This is _useless_." Ruben went on.

"What do you want me to do about it now?"

Ruben spluttered but finally set the gun back on the counter. "Just. Towels. Medical supplies. Go find them."

Noel could hear the moaning as he went back down the hallway, this time in search of the last of what Ruben wanted. It was all in the bathroom, but the tub had finished filling and was no longer running. That meant it was no longer covering the sounds of poor Mr. Lieson.

He grabbed all his medical supplies, which amounted to little more than band-aids, gauze, and over-the-counter painkillers, and bundled up all his towels underneath so he'd only have to make one trip.

Ruben had gone back to looking out the window when he came back, and Noel dumped everything on the table, next to all the cans of food the other man had pilfered from his cabinets.

"What are we doing?" Noel asked after a few minutes of nothing but silence, save for the noises going on outside.

"Preparing."

Noel went to stand next to Ruben. "What for?"

"I don't know, but it's not good. We might be here for a while."

As though to prove him right, the front door shook as a body thumped against it, and a screech was let loose when the door stood.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Three days. It took three days of being holed up with Ruben, avoiding his guest room at all costs, and eating as much of the perishables as possible after the electricity went out, for Noel to realize that this might take a while before it ended.

They stuck to the living room, laying out blankets to sleep on. Ms. Vancor left after a few hours, which at first Noel was grateful for. At least, until she showed back up with friends. The last time Noel had looked through the peephole, there were three milling about. They weren't as aggravated as they were before, but they were insistent that they needed to be where Noel was.

Ruben by now had deemed the metal bat as his own, and it never left his side, no matter what. He was also quiet, refusing to give in to Noel's poor attempts at conversation. Eventually, he stopped trying.

Ruben kept the window shut as well. What they had seen that first night became a common occurrence throughout the days. Noel felt like he should _do_ something, try to help them, at least, but he couldn't think of a single thing. They could get through the windows, if the latch for the bars wasn't rusted shut from years of disuse. The fire escape was a bit iffy- it creaked at night when the other neighbors went out there to smoke. It definitely wasn't a good idea to go down it quickly.

Not that he wanted to go out there, anyway. He might not have seen what had happened to the man the first night, but he could guess. Now that he saw them in the daylight... He pretended that he didn't know they were eating people. Real people. Ruben was unaware of this little quirk, and Noel _knew_ he should tell him. But a part of him wondered if he wasn't going crazy, that this all wasn't happening. Mr. Lieson wasn't in his guest bedroom missing his jaw. Ms. Vancor wasn't squeezing her way down the hall with others, snarling like a pack of hungry wolves with red meat just out of reach.

That that horrible, _horrible_ stench wasn't permeating through the room, rotting flesh and who knows what else that Noel noticed the second day. The sweltering heat was almost unbearable, but they were without electricity, which meant no air conditioning, no fans. The smell was coming from Mr. Lieson, made worse by the heat. Even Ruben had taken to pulling his collar over his nose on occasion, despite being drenched in sweat.

"Ruben?" Noel tried for the umpteenth time. "Ruben? Rube?"

" _What_?!"

"Nothing. Never mind."

Noel needed something to _do_ with himself. The wait was agonizing, especially when neither of them knew what was going on, or even knew when they'd find out. Would the military swoop in and save the day? The CDC? There was something wrong with these people, with Mr. Lieson and Ms. Vancor, and it wasn't going away.

Apparently Ruben was on the same page.

He stood up suddenly, making no noise as he moved to the door and knelt on the couch to get a look out of the peephole.

"What're-"

"Shh!" Ruben held a finger up to Noel, motioning for him to keep quiet. "I don't hear them out there."

"Okay, but-"

"Would you keep your voice down?" Ruben hissed, glaring at Noel. Noel rolled his eyes and mimed zipping his lips. "Help me move this couch.

" _What_? No!" The couch was staying. The couch wasn't going _anywhere_.

"Look, I have a radio in my apartment. I'll grab it quick," Ruben promised, but Noel knew better than to believe him. The man was outright going to abandon him.

Could he blame him, though?

Yes. Yes he could.

But the chance for a radio was too good to pass up, and with no small amount of hesitation and maybe a little bickering until Noel threw his hands up and told Ruben to shove it- in his head- they moved the couch away as silently as possible.

Ruben looked through the peephole one more time, just to make sure, clenched his bat in hand, and opened the door. He stuck his head outside, looking both ways down the hall before slowly sidling out. Like before, Noel stood diligently by the door, keeping watch for anything suspicious. He heard a few creaks from the floor above, but no one was in a rush to get down to them.

Then, Ruben was gone, his door clicking shut softly behind him, leaving Noel alone. He crossed his hands over his chest, mindful of his knife, and studiously ignored the blood trailing along the wall and over the floor. The door across from him was open, just a crack, bloody fingerprints smeared along the edge as though someone had tried to pull it open from the inside. They were hindered by the chain lock.

He hunched closer to the wall, rubbing his arms to calm his nerves. He could go back in. Lock the door. Brace it with the couch.

Let Ruben fend for himself.

But- no. That was a horrible thing to do. Besides, Ruben proved useful so far, and Noel hoped he would continue doing so.

As if on cue, Ruben stuck his head out his apartment, placing the bat against the wall when he saw the coast clear so that he could have both hands to lug a few suitcases and bags behind him.

"Come help!" Ruben angry-whispered at Noel.

Leaving Ruben to fend for himself looked like a better plan by the minute.

Once they hauled everything inside Noel's place, Ruben paused at the door, looking toward the staircase. He gave Noel a finger to hold on a minute before disappearing. He wasn't gone a minute before he was back and doing the door up again.

"What?"

"The door was open," Ruben explained. "I went and shut it, keep more of them from getting in."

Noel flashed back to the other day, when he had left it open for Mr. Lieson.

_Fuck_.

"Stop standing there and come _on_ ," Ruben ordered, shoving past Noel to the kitchen, where he placed one of the bags onto the counter. He rifled through it and pulled out the aforementioned radio.

He stood there, fiddling with it for a few minutes. Ms. Vancor was at the door with all her new friends, growling as though she knew they had missed their chance to get a hold of Noel and Ruben.

"Should we give Mr. Lieson food?"

Ruben scoffed, like it was the most ridiculous idea in the world, doing something _nice_ and feeding someone _else_.

"And how do you propose we do that? Cut off a few of our fingers and tell him to catch it in his mouth?"

"What?"

"Do _not_ tell me you haven't figured it out by now," Ruben rounded on Noel, anger crossing his face. The radio sat forgotten on the counter. "You've _seen_ what's been going on out there- what _they_ are doing to others. They're _eating_ them."

Yeah. Noel knew. He didn't know that Ruben did, and had been going back and forth with himself to tell the man because he wasn't sure if he hadn't just imagined the whole thing. Hallucinations from stress and whatnot.

So he had ignored it. He pretended he didn't see it, and maybe even a little, convinced himself that it never happened

Noel hunched on himself instead of answering Ruben. The man scoffed again, his nose scrunching in distaste at Noel's obvious discomfort with the topic.

Suddenly, the radio crackled to life with a flare of static. Ruben messed with the knob, changing it to a few known stations, until a voice came on, clear as could be.

_"A man was attacked outside a Walmart yesterday morning by a group of teenage girls. I've never seen such a thing-"_

_"-And the score is tied-"_

_"God is taking back his children and leaving the sinners-"_

_"Researchers say there is nothing to worry about."_

Ruben stopped turning the dial, and leaned against the counter to hear with this station had to say.

_"A very dangerous new drug is hitting a few of the bigger cities. Reports are flooding in of instances similar to that of Michael Jerry, the man who ingested rock salt and began to eat his sleeping wife two years ago. This has shown to be more dangerous, as contamination has risen, leading to infection. This infection can be passed from one person to the next by transferring saliva, and the infection rate is upward of 90%. Victims in turn attack others with no regard for their wellbeing, and absolutely no discrimination of who they attack, anyone from strangers to their own children. More reports show there have been acts of cannibalism. The symptoms of those infected are as having a milky film like substance in their eyes, a drastic loss of hair, teeth and even skin, sporadic violent outbursts. They seem to not feel pain, and when not agitated use a slow, shambling gait, as though they are lost. They are incapable of comprehensible words, but may grunt and scream at random. The CDC has assured us that the incidents have been contained. Areas have been quarantined, but at this moment everything is under control-"_

"Bullshit," Ruben muttered. "Under control my ass."

_"Where do you go if you believe you have been infected?" A_ nother voice chimed in.

_"Clinics have been set up to take care of the people that are infected or suspected of being infected. If you find yourself in one of these quarantined areas, it is advised that you go to the schools where these clinics have been set up in a time of emergency. Specialized doctors will be able to test you and give you a pass that allows you to leave the quarantined area."_

Very little information came after that, but drugs didn't necessarily explain why there was a jaw wrapped in seven Walmart sacks and whole roll of paper towels in the trash can. Probably not where it should go, but Noel couldn't look at it anymore, and it wasn't like they'd be able to reattach it. The conversation on the radio soon turned to ethics over keeping people inside these areas. Ruben left the radio on for a while longer, but stepped away, signaling he was done listening to it.

"Do you think we should go?"

"The fuck do you think?"

Noel flinched at Ruben's harsh tone, trying to open his mouth to give one of his ideas. Ruben moved past him and into the living room where he began to go through his bags. He set out a few things, most notably a gun and its bullets, a flashlight, and a med kit that had more to it then Noel's medical cabinet had ever _seen_.

"If they have people that can get us out of here," Noel attempted. Ruben stopped him with a violent wave of his hand.

"Have you _looked_ out there recently? They'll eat you alive as soon as you step outside."

Noel's eyes narrowed. "I just think-"

"Could you _not_? And maybe stop talking, while you're at it?"

"What the _fuck_ is your problem?" Noel hissed. He was sick and tired of Ruben's shit. So much so that even when Ruben stood and advanced on him, he stood his ground. Stupid, definitely.

"My _problem_ is you."

"What did I do? Have done absolutely _nothing_ to you and all you do is bitch at me."

"Fuck off," Ruben said maturely.

"No, no, tell, oh magnificent one. You're so fucking perfect, why don't _you_ tell me what the problem is? What did I ever do to you?"

"You're too fucking nice!" Ruben relented, his voice loud. Neither of them cared.

"Too _nice_? What do you mean too nice?"

Ruben rolled his eyes, and gestured at Noel.

"You just let everyone walk all over you! You don't ever fucking stand up for yourself!"

"What are you talking about? Name me one time."

"Liz and Jack." Ruben listed, and Noel huffed. "We all know they're the ones that scratched up Vancor's car, but since you were parked next to her, they blamed you. You didn't even _try_ to defend yourself."

"They were just kids! They didn't know what they were doing, and if anyone _knows_ anything, it's what their dad is like."

"And the time Wendy found cigarettes outside the building, from the apartment above yours? You don't even smoke, but you took the blame then, too, and almost got kicked out for it."

"Mrs. Ronald's was going through a divorce! She didn't need that too."

"Stop making excuses!" Ruben replied, heatedly. "Excuse, excuse, excuse. Why don't you just take responsibility for your own damn actions and leave the rest of them to their own."

"This is seriously why you don't like me? Solely because I don't like other people getting in trouble?" Noel spit back, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. The screeches from outside the door were getting louder, and Noel could hear scratching. They wanted to get in, like, yesterday.

Technically three days ago, but who's counting?

"I don't like you because you're a pushover, even if it's at your own expense. I _hate_ people like that."

"What do you expect me to do about that now, huh? There are things out there that, as you made perfectly clear, want to _eat_ us."

"Yeah. And I'm stuck here. With you."

"Stop acting like it's my fault we're here."

"Maybe it'd be better if you weren't."

"Excuse me? Look around you, this is _m_ y place. I never asked you to stick around. And you know what? There's the door. Leave, if being here is so much worse than getting _eaten alive._ " Noel shoved Ruben toward the door, surprised that he was even able to do so, though he thought that might have more to do with Ruben's own shock.

" _Fine_." Ruben snarled, turning and grabbing up the nearest bag to him, along with his gun, the radio, and his own med kit. Rather than go to the door like Noel expected, the man went to one of the windows, undoing the latch to the bars and swinging it open. He hiked one leg over the sill, gave Noel one last nasty look, and then he was gone.

Noel heard Ruben clanking down the fire escape. By the time he went to check to see how the man was faring the descent, Ruben had already jumped to the ground.

Noel grabbed the bars and swung them closed, and locked them. Then unlocked them. Then locked them again.

But he left the window open.

Noel was a fucking _idiot_. The last thing he should've done was push away the guy protecting him. Ruben had left most of his shit, too. The other bags that he had brought with him were full of canned foods, batteries, assorted blunt objects, and other survival-eque gear.

It belonged to him now. Ruben was shit out of luck if he thought he was getting it back.

Ms. Vancor and her friends screeched, nails digging at the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Noel missed his parents. He missed Fiona, and he missed Terry, too. His parents weren't in the city, so thankfully they were safe, but he had no idea about the other two. Everything really went down right after Terry left, and he couldn't help but hope that the man had gotten somewhere safe. And Fiona, too. Noel was supposed to call her after his date, but, well, things got a bit heated, and it ended up impossible. Not to mention, he _did_ try to call her but couldn't get through.

With how the night turned out, he kind of wished he had taken the initiative to invite Terry inside. Noel might not be an expert in gay sex, and had literally no firsthand experience save for what he experimented on himself with, but he knew the basics and thought he might be able to get through the ordeal without Terry being any the wiser.

Not exactly the ideal way to lose his virginity, but considering how he was holed up in his apartment, _alone_ , surrounded by flesh-eating freaks, he wouldn't complain if that was how it went down.

There was some hope yet. If he could get to one of those clinics, he'd be set. Ruben had an hour's head start on him, and the man might even be on the other side now. Noel doubted he'd send help back for him.

Noel looked around his apartment, wondering what he might need to take for the little journey. The nearest school wasn't far away, a few miles at most. Should he take valuables? He'd be able to come back as soon as they took care of this, right?

Noel put together a small, easy to carry bag, full of the medical supplies Ruben left behind, and a few other odds and ends he thought important, like a pocketknife and a flashlight. He grabbed one of the blunt objects Ruben left behind. A crowbar seemed the best way to go.

Next, he checked the door, hopping up on the couch to look through the peephole. There was Ms. Vancor, as expected. Her bottle blond hair was a mess, and patches were missing. Her face was a mottle of pink and green from makeup, and black and red and brown from _whatever else_. She snapped rotted teeth, growling at the door. Her pink robe was beginning to fall off her shoulders, and it was then that Noel noticed she had a large chunk missing out of her shoulder, like something had taken a bite.

Noel shuddered. He could guess what had done that.

His next destination was the window, and he pressed his face up against the bars to get a better look. There was no one on the fire escape, and no one below.

Noel went slow, taking his time not to make noise, though the fire escape still groaned under his weight once he got both feet on it. He shut the bars behind him to deter any potential intruders, and began to go down. The ladder was still up, but Noel thought it best not to release it. It would only cause noise and get attention.

Besides, if Ruben could do it, so could he.

Except, Noel wasn't taking into account that _Ruben_ was in the army, and therefore knew how to keep himself in shape, and presumably _did_ keep himself in shape.

Noel did not.

Noel, being the absolute idiot he was, dropped to the ground, landed wrong, _barely_ kept himself from screaming out in pain, and ended up with a limp.

It wasn't a bad injury, _that_ he knew, but it would slow him down.

The alley behind the apartment remained clear, and Noel limped his way out, stopping at the end to turn around to pick up the crowbar he'd left behind.

His second attempt to leave the alleyway was better, if only that he managed to look around the corner before he stopped. The street _looked_ clear, but that didn't mean there wasn't someone watching. Waiting.

He made it about four blocks before he saw the first one. An old man in a garish yellow Hawaiian shirt shambled along the street, and if were any other day, Noel might mistake him for someone lost. The missing right side of his face kept Noel from approaching him, just to make sure he wasn't.

Despite the obvious... physical abnormality, the man didn't seem particularly aggressive, nothing like Mr. Lieson or Ms. Vancor. He wasn't chasing after anything, he wasn't snarling or growling or eating people. In fact, the old man wasn't doing anything an old man didn't do. Normally.

His mind went back to what he had heard on the radio. Drugs, they said. Honestly, what kind of drugs did this? At least ones that people would take willingly? People were stupid. He heard stories about Krokodil. Nasty, nasty stories.

Still, this was a little out there. Even if it wasn't the drugs themselves, what kind of _contamination_ could do this? Was it being produced on Plum Island? Because holy _fuck_ was this bad. People were killing others. People were _eating_ others. Mr. Lieson was still in his guest room, and despite not getting any food or water, and, well, _missing his jaw_ , it didn't seem like it fazed him.

A growl brought Noel back to the issue at hand. Three others joined the old man and crowded around him like they were a pack, much like with Ms. Vancor. Two more were shambling over, and as Noel watched, another four came out of a building. They packed tightly together, moving with no clear aim in mind.

Before more showed up, Noel decided to move. He snuck down an alley to get away from that street, only to see much the same on the next one, except, more.

_Crap_.

Noel backpedaled quickly, and in his haste tripped over a bottle. He stumbled, barely keeping himself upright, but in his clumsiness, the bottle went rolling out of the alley, and stopped only because of one of _their_ feet. The creature, a young woman, snuffed, looking at the bottle laying innocently beside him, and slowly, ever so slowly, she looked up, eyes immediately finding Noel, rising from the bottom until they settled on his terrified face.

His stupid feet were frozen to the ground, and only when the creature reached out to him did Noel turn tail. The person grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back, her putrid breath hot against Noel's skin as she gnashed her teeth in his ear.

Noel flailed, smacking her in the head with his elbow, but the woman was too strong for him to get out of her arms. He twisted, bringing the crowbar up and smashing it against her head.

She crumpled to the ground.

_Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck_.

Before he could tell if the others had realized he was there, he turned and ran down the alley in a suicidal display of agility. His ankle screamed at him to stop, but he ignored the warnings and bolted out of the alley into the street. If he didn't have their attention before, he did now.

In his panic, he started down the street, where the fewest of the infected where grouped together. He felt fingers on his arms and tugs on his shirt, but none were able to get a grip as he flew past. Groans started up behind him, and he knew they were coming after him.

Past the buildings with the broken glass smeared with blood. Past the broken cars, dented from crashing into poles or each other. Past the _infected t_ hat were the people he used to know- the men, women, and children that ran the stores or played in the parks.

All these people that were there but not there.

The city felt empty.

He turned a corner, and an open door was his salvation. He charged through it, slamming it behind him and hoping the bell that rang didn't alert any of them.

Not seconds later a horde stampeded past, not stopping or slowing down when their prey was no longer in sight. They continued on, and as soon as they were gone, Noel dropped to the ground, panting, his heart beating a mile a minute. He looked around to see himself in a tiny, messy convenience store. Most of the shelves were picked clean, a few knocked over.

He dropped his bag on the floor, and slowly began to work on loosening his grip on the crowbar. He almost dropped it completely when he noticed the blood and hair on it, from the woman that grabbed him.

Noel didn't know what to feel. Guilt, sure. Just because they were infected, didn't mean they did this to themselves on purpose. The person on the news station had said that they could infect others. That woman was likely one of the victims. She didn't deserve this. Neither did Mr. Lieson or Ms. Vancor or anyone else.

And especially not Noel.

He looked outside, seeing a few more infected up the street, following the trail of the growing horde. He'd wait a little until they were gone before he headed out again.

Noel sat down, leaning against the wall.

What was he doing? Why'd he leave? He was _safe_ there. Eventually they'd figure it out and get it taken care of. All he had to do was sit still and be patient.

But no, he _had_ to push Ruben away, he _had_ to decide that he'd do it all on his own, and he _had_ to leave the safety of his apartment. As safe as it could be, anyway. Ms. Vancor really was a heavy woman, if she threw herself at the door a few more times, there's no telling if it would hold against her weight.

Noel's stomach growled, and he smacked his head against the wall a few times. He hadn't even thought of packing food. The amount of infected roaming around came at a surprise. He thought that he could make it to the school quick, without an issue. How wrong he'd been.

He stood up, grimacing when he accidentally put his weight on his ankle, having forgotten entirely about the wound. Under normal circumstances, he would have felt wrong to grab something from the store without paying for it, but considering the state of it, he didn't think the owners would notice it missing.

He managed to find a few bags of chips underneath one of the overturned shelves that lay against the wall. For a short amount of time, he sat there, crunching on junk food, staring out the window in case the infected walked by. Once he was done, he grabbed his bag and took out a bandage roll, doing up his ankle to keep it firm.

Noel looked out the window to see the street clear of any infected. He picked up his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and readied his crowbar. One last check, just to be sure.

He didn't hear the creeping infected slowly crawling its way toward him, didn't notice it until it grabbed his hand, yanking him into the path of its teeth.


	7. Chapter 7

The store was empty. Looked empty. Noel didn't know. It wasn't important.

It _was_ , but, no.

Calm. Calm calm calm calm calm.

He needed to be _calm._ If the man that got bit by a black mamba could go hours before getting medical treatment by being calm, then so could he.

Oh _fuck it_. Noel couldn't stop the panic rising in him.

This building was a bit bigger than the last, but that didn't mean it hadn't been hit as badly, too. A few carts stood in the middle of the aisles, filled with crap, just left there. He wouldn't bother going through it. He didn't have the time.

The back wall held what he needed. Who would go after bleach in an emergency?

He tore his shirt off over his head and removed the gauze, whimpering as it stuck to the edges of the wound on his wrist. When it was off and thrown to the ground, he picked up one of the bottles, tensing as he poured it onto his arm. A not-quite-scream, not-quite-whimper escaped him, and he felt like passing out. Wanted to.

He dropped the bottle to the ground, not caring that it spilled across the floor, over his shoes and pants. With shaking hands, he wrapped his arm up again.

He had to get to the clinic. He _had_ to. He couldn't turn into one of _them_.

Thoughts of eating Fiona, Terry, _his parents_ crossed his mind, and he doubled over, losing the chips he'd eaten not ten minutes ago.

Once Noel was done, he wiped his mouth, looked around at the mess he made, and picked up what he dropped. His bag was covered in bleach, but everything inside was unaffected. His crowbar had a thick knot of bloodied hair at the end, a skull fragment embedded inside.

That- that _thing_. It wasn't human. Not anymore, and not ever again. Noel bashed half of its skull off, and it still went after him. Kept _crawling_ to him.

Guilt warred with worry, but he couldn't dwell on it. He had little daylight left.

Just a few more blocks.

Noel knew it for what it was the moment he saw it. Thankfully, the way leading up to the school was clear, probably to do with the military presence outside. Roadblocks were set up, and blue tents filled the schoolyard. An iron fence with brick posts protected the yard. He saw men in uniform, carrying guns. A few camped out at the front, smoking cigarettes and chatting idly. They jumped to position when Noel came forward, their guns trained on him.

Noel raised his hands, dropping his bag and weapon as he did so in a sign of good faith. Considering what he'd seen, he didn't blame them.

Now, Noel didn't know anything about rankings and what all the stuff on the uniforms meant, but when another man stepped forward through the crowd of men with guns pointed at Noel, something about him screamed authority. This man looked hardened, bulkier than Ruben could even dream to be, and had a fierce glare.

"You infected?" The man asked.

Noel thought about lying, but there was a reason he was there, right?

So he nodded.

The man surveyed him a split second, then turned to nod to someone just out of sight. That person came forward, an older woman in a white lab coat. Her blonde hair was a frizzy mass of tight curls, haphazardly thrown up into a fuzzy bun. Her face was gaunt, as though she hadn't slept in days, and one of the lenses of her glasses had a crack going through the middle. She took out a pen and flashed a light into Noel eyes. He flinched at first, not expecting it, but stood still as she did her thing.

"Where were you bitten?" She asked, and when Noel showed her his arm, she immediately began to unwrap it. The bite looked worse than before, festering. The yellow pus was new.

Noel couldn't look at it anymore. He had nothing left in his stomach to puke up.

"How long ago?" She prodded the edges of the wound with some type of instrument, tearing away a flap of skin that she then stuck into a container.

"Little less than an hour?"

She looked up sharply, the side of her mouth turning down.

"Interesting. It's definitely showing signs of the infection, but for a bite this bad, you should be..." She mumbled to herself as she looked it over again.

Noel didn't need her to finish that train of thought. He could imagine it just fine. He shivered. He felt hot and cold at the same time.

"I poured bleach on it," he admitted.

"Bleach?"

"It's supposed to kill everything, right?" That was his logic, anyway.

The woman made a thoughtful noise, then nodded and turned back to the man that came out to greet him. "I'd like to set up a room for him."

"Keep this up and we'll be running out," the man grumbled, his arms crossing over his chest. He barked a quick order to one of the men in the yard.

"Come with me," the woman said. "We need you to get checked out, blood drawn."

"There's a cure, right?" Noel asked as she led him toward the school. She gave him a halfhearted smile, but didn't answer.

The 'room' was nothing more than a bed with a curtain pulled around it in one of the tents. She had him sit in there while she took samples and ran a few tests and asked questions.

_How do you feel?_

_Hot, cold, nauseous. Dizzy._

_Do you feel hungry?_

_Hungry? No, I feel sick._

_Have you been experiencing any black outs, lost time that you can't explain?_

_No._

And on and on.

Noel didn't have _time for this_. According to her, he should have joined the mindless, flesh eating infected by now.

"I don't mean to rush you," he did, "but a cure? I just, I don't know how long until it turns me... like that."

The woman Noel now knew as Doctor Parks, frowned, setting her clipboard on her lap.

"Unfortunately we are still in the testing phase of the vaccine. It's experimental."

"I don't- I don't _care_. Just give me something, anything."

He felt a knot forming in his stomach, worse than a cramp. The wound flared white-hot. He thought the infection might be eating away at his skin. It must be, nothing could feel this bad.

"There are side effects."

" _I don't care_ ," Noel repeated.

Dr. Parks stood up, and called for someone. They came in a blink, holding a syringe full of clear liquid. She told Noel to lie back on the bed and to stop twitching.

Twitching? Twitching? He wasn't moving a muscle.

He tried to tell her this but his mouth wasn't working right. Nothing was working right.

He could barely feel it when she cleaned his arm with a cotton swap, but then everything came flooding back a million times over as she held his arm, and he wanted to _scream_ because it hurt so bad and felt so good.

Noel closed his eyes, knowing that she had used the syringe, but unable to pick it out among all the other sensations in his body. Those sensations turned back into pain, and was that him screaming?

Faces flickered in front of his eyes. All his friends, the people he knew, people he didn't. Then- darkness. Flashes of red. Voices floating around in his head. He tried to understand them but they flew away from his fingers and his toes and his arms and his legs were on _fire_ , heat bright hot blinking stars  that fell out of the sky, fizzling out in the ocean of sand, swallowing up everything in existence.

His head felt cleaved in two.

Dull yellow lights shone overhead, bouncing off the blue of the tent and into his eyes. He squinted, moved to put his hand over his eyes but it wouldn't come.

Noel grunted, cotton in his mouth. His muscles strained, and he turned his head to see that his wrist was bound to the bed. Why? When did this happen? How long had he been out?

A throat cleared next to him. Dr. Parks sat in her chair with legs crossed at the knee, her clipboard in hand.

"You woke up before I expected. How do you feel?"

"Th-thirsty," Noel said.

"For?"

Noel's brows scrunched briefly. "Water."

Dr. Parks gestured to another in the room Noel hadn't noticed. A cool glass pressed against his lips, and he drank greedily. It was taken away all too soon.

"How long have I been out?" Noel asked once what he assumed to be a nurse left.

"Mm, about half of the day," Dr. Parks said as she wrote on the clipboard. "It's almost noon."

Half of the day, huh? It felt so much longer than that. It felt like Noel had woken up for the first time in years. His limbs were weak, and he couldn't even lift them.

Oh right.

"Why am I tied up?" Noel asked groggily. Things were beginning to go dark again.

"You were thrashing around, and we couldn't risk using a sedative," Dr. Parks admitted, her voice cold, disinterested.

"Can you let me loose?"

"I think it would be better if we don't. We don't know the side effects yet."

"Am I cured?"

For the first time since he agreed to take the vaccine, she looked excited, and gushed, "cured? I wouldn't say so. Once the virus is in you, it's there to stay. The experimental dose I gave you has done the most amazing-"

A man stepped into the makeshift room. The military man. Had Noel seen him before? Yes. Of course he had. Did he ever get a name, though? That one was a little iffier. His toes tingled, his foot jerked. He was weightless, floating on air. Above his body. Sucked inside.

"You're needed up front," the man sneered, speaking to the doctor but looking at Noel. "One of the fucktards shot the other in the leg."

"Good god, those boys are idiots," Dr. Parks sighed, standing. She gave Noel one last look before leaving, the man hot on her trails.


	8. Chapter 8

Noel wasn't cured? Then what was he doing there? What had she injected him with?

He ran a hand over his face, then jolted at the warm, wet feeling across his face. Hadn't he been tied to the bed? He lifted his hand above his head, confused at the blood that dripped down his skin. It couldn't have been his, there were no cuts or marks. Rather than question it, he twisted over to undo the other strap.

He sat up, surveying his surroundings. There was no one in the room, though he heard voices right outside. Who could have set him free? Had they not made sure to do it up correctly?

Noel checked the strap for a clue as to why he was free, and wished he hadn't. The strap was covered in blood and bits of flesh.

Holy _fuck_ , and they had put him in this? That was downright unsanitary. And gross, so very, very gross.

Noel took the straps off his feet and shifted to the side, slowly lifting himself off the bed. His feet tingled again, all the way up his body as though it had fallen asleep and he was trying to shake it awake.

A small table to the side of the bed held a tray with scalpels and pincher looking things, and cotton swabs. All of them looked as though they had been used recently. Noel did a mental check of his body. Nothing _seemed_ hurt or cut up or sewn back together.

Surprisingly, nothing. Not even his wrist.

He checked that too. With his eyes.

As opposed to?

Noel was willing to admit he might not be all there at the moment, cognitively.

What else wasn't there? The bite.

Except it was. The huge gaping hole in his arm was now a white mark against his skin. It was an obvious bite, the teeth marks were evident, but Noel distinctly remembered it _being there_. Had he lost more time than he thought? Dr. Parks said half a day. Why would she lie?

The voices were coming closer. They were clear as a bell, just on the other side of the pulled sheet. Noel grabbed a towel and quickly wiped his arm and face clean of blood and tossed it on the floor. He grabbed one of the scalpels as a weapon, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And... the voices still sounded as though they were coming closer, and whoever they were must be _very_ loud speakers. If Noel had his eyes closed, he could imagine they were in the room with him.

He glanced around the small room suspiciously just in case, then went to the edge of the hanging sheet and peeked out.

There they were. Two soldiers, guns in resting position, were talking and walking slowly through the large tent. A few nurses walked past them, and one of the soldiers whistled, high-pitched, and that alone almost dropped Noel to the _ground_ it should be a weapon.

They walked past without a glance in Noel's direction, and out of sight. A few other makeshift rooms made up the tent, as well as one large open area full of electronic equipment. Once the nurses disappeared into their respective places, the tent seemed empty of all life, except for this strange throbbing sound in Noel's ears.

'Throbbing noises' aren't life, Noel, get it together.

They were coming from something, however, and Noel didn't want to know from what. He just wanted to get away from it. When he was sure the coast was clear, he sidled out from behind the sheet. If he remembered correctly, he didn't want to go out the entrance he came from. The second entrance, the one the soldiers went to, should be facing the fence. If he could get to it without getting caught...

But then what? The fence was taller than he was. He'd get shot the moment he stepped outside.

Wait. Wait. Why was he doing this, again?

Blackness encroached on his vision, and he was terrified he might have another blackout like when Dr. Parks injected him, and stumbled forward in a daze. How he hadn't alerted someone yet was a mystery in of itself. Bright sunlight blinded him suddenly, a thousand times worse than the lamps in the tent. He paused as he got his bearings and looked around.

Most of the soldiers were off to the front. A number surrounded a fallen man screaming and clutching his leg, and Noel could see Dr. Parks crouched next to him.

_Kill him_ , she said loudly. _He's going to turn_.

The rest of the soldiers didn't seem to mind the order, some even whooped and a gun went off, a loud _bang_ in Noel's ear that made him jump, and the screaming stopped. Noel stared.

It didn't occur to him to get a move on until he heard groaning of tens of infected, their shambling feet bringing them to the sound of the gun shot. More whooping and hollering as the soldiers laid into the infected without a care for what they were doing to another human being, sick or not. Noel couldn't watch any longer.

Noel got a leg up on the brick underlay of the iron fence, hoisting himself up and up and up and toppling over the side to land on his back.

What the fuck?

When did he-

How did he-

Adrenaline? The drugs?

Probably the drugs.

His scream was drowned out by the gunshots that caused it, his body writhing and curling with his knees drawn up to his face, his hands clasped over his ears. He didn't know how long he was there. Long after the gunshots stopped and men were barking orders to _find him or so help me._

He might have passed out. He hoped he did. He was almost sure his brain had tried to explode itself, and the pain it left behind blocked everything else. He couldn't see or hear or understand what was going on around him. His head was in a fog, noises starting and stopping suddenly like his ears couldn't make up their mind if they wanted to do their job or not. It was though he was listening to a radio station with bad signal, the music going in and out so that he was listening to more static than he was the song.

Then, muffled noises became clearer, and with a _pop_ everything came flooding in all at once. Noel sat up slowly, blinking his eyes. He pushed himself onto unsteady feet and tested a step. When he managed to stay upright, he looked through the fence to see men running around. None saw him when he lurched forward in the other direction. _Away_ from them.

"There he is!" Someone shouted, and Noel bolted, not looking back once. He knew that they were going to chase after him. Shots went off, hitting the ground around his feet, and he stumbled from the noise again but continued.

Once Noel rounded the corner of a building they stopped, but he heard footsteps approaching at a fast pace. He zigzagged down a few more blocks, taking a left here, a right there, trying to get them off his back. Noel could hear them on his tail. His breaths came in short pants, his legs felt like they were on fire. He ducked through the broken window of an electronic shop, hissing when he sliced his arm. Glass crunched under his feet, and he realized he should be grateful that they left him his clothes on. Somewhere between leaving the tent and entering the store, he had lost his scalpel.

He hid just out of sight of the open window, gulping for breath as he listened as three men went past, feet pounding the pavement in tandem. It didn't skip Noel's mind that the situation was similar to that of the horde of infected. They were both dangerous, though he wasn't sure which one was more. Only when he couldn't hear them anymore did he lift his head out.

An infected wobbled past in the direction the soldiers went, but it didn't notice him. As soon as it was gone, he hoped through the window again and headed down the street.

Where to now? He probably lost his chance of getting out of the quarantine area with his little escape which he had no way of explaining _why he_ did it. Back to his apartment, maybe? But he didn't have a weapon. He left all of his shit in front of the school- no telling what they had done with it. Probably tossed it.

Noel managed to scrounge up a piece of pipe to make the journey home. The streets were clear, all the infected having left to chase after the soldiers. Noel almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

Where was he, even?

Noel had to admit, he wasn't exactly familiar with the city. He knew how to get to the school but he never paid attention to the surrounding buildings. As far as he could tell, he had never been on this street before.

It seemed backtracking was in order. Careful backtracking. Like a ninja. He was black as the night during day-

Keep focused, Noel. Whatever Dr. Parks had given him still effected him. Thoughts floated around in his head with no clear direction, and trying to keep on track with one led him down a weird path. Noel shook himself, attempting to get his head in order until he got back to the apartment complex. He'd figure out how he was supposed to get back in when he got there.

It took about an hour of wandering and jumping behind objects or into buildings to hide from infected to realize that he might just be hopelessly lost. None of this looked familiar whatsoever.

He didn't just magically _appear_ at the electronic store from the school in his escape. He had to have noticed _something_ that showed he was going the right way back. Or hell, on the way back home.

Noel was _this_ close to going into a touristy shop and looking for a map when he heard a growl coming from an alleyway, and feet stomped over trash strewn over the ground from a knocked down trashcan. It kicked the can, alerting another down the street that Noel was trying to avoid. The second one turned, eyes locking on Noel immediately, its arms rising and teeth gnashing as it grunted at him.

Noel took off the other way, narrowly avoiding the grasping hands of the one out of the alley, dodging just in time and ducking under its reaching arms.

He caught the attention of a few more infected, shambling around or slumped over in the road, but he didn't pay them any mind. They were slow, and easy to lose. If he could just find a place to get out of sight...

_There!_

Wait, how did he end up back at the electronic store so quickly?

He was going to ignore the fact that he had been going in circles and hide.

Noel was surprised at the integrity of his shoes as he passed over the glass again, taking more care not to slice himself open on the window and stooped low to keep out of sight.

The infected went past, four or five of them, snarling and moaning. He was about to pop his head up to check for more when a hand clasped around his mouth, pulling him back against a hard chest. Noel screeched and began to flail, stopping only when a familiar voice hissed into his ear, " _shh! Shut up, shut up!"_


	9. Chapter 9

"Ruben?" Noel gasped when he lifted his hand away, and the older man moved back a step. "What're you doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing here?" He snorted, "what the _fuck_ are you doing out here? What happened at the apartment?"

"Nothing? Nothing happened, I just didn't think..."

"What, that I was just going to leave you there?" Ruben huffed, and Noel shrugged.

"Well, you kind of did."

"I was coming back," Ruben said through grit teeth. Noel flushed red in embarrassment. He didn't think the man had any intention of doing so. He figured Ruben would get to the clinic and forget all about him. It was nice to hear that that wasn't his intention. But.

"Did you get to the clinic?" Noel asked. Had they given Ruben the same treatment. No, wait, why would they? Ruben probably wasn't stupid enough to get himself _bit_.

"That fucking-" Ruben stopped, then started again. "I just came from there. Had to hole up in a fucking dumpster after a horde came my way."

"Was it led by an old man in a Hawaiian shirt?" Noel rolled his eyes at his poor attempt at a joke, but Ruben stared at him curiously.

"Wha- yeah. How did you know?"

"Oh, um." _Oops?_ "They passed me too. The school?"

"What? Oh. Just came from there." Ruben repeated. "Saw the soldiers outside, figured it was a trap, so I hid and waited. A couple came up, and they just… they shot them down."

"What?"

"Just killed them, didn't ask questions, didn't see if they were infected, nothing." Ruben spat at the ground, mouth a thin line of anger. "Didn't even-"

Ruben stopped, eyes conveying his unspoken frustration, and he grabbed an object and tossed to the other side of the room in a fit of rage. Noel had no idea how the sound didn't alert every infected with a five mile radius.

"There's hundreds of bodies behind the school," Ruben yelled after a moment, and Noel startled.

"Can you not?" Noel asked. "You'll draw them in."

"Not _what_?"

"Be so loud?"

"I'm not being loud," Ruben replied loudly. "I'm not stupid."

"You're all but screaming in my ear, Rube."

"Don't call me that, _El,_ and no I'm not. Stop telling me to be quiet."

Noel waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever. Bodies, school?"

Ruben stared at him suspiciously for a moment, then, "they had hundreds of bodies, probably what happened to most of the people that tried to leave the quarantine area. I took a look- head shots from what I saw."

"That's horrible."

"It's effective, though. If they're anything like Lieson, incapacitating them by shooting them in the leg probably isn't going to stop them."

"I meant that they're killing people," Noel said, giving the other man a strange look. "What are we supposed to do now? Can we get out other ways?"

"All the roads have been blocked off. At least the ones I checked," Ruben said. "We could go back to the apartments and wait for a cure, but I doubt they'd get it to us in time before we ran out of food or they broke the door down."

Not to mention, there was no cure, if what Dr. Parks said was true. Did that mean Noel was still going to turn? Maybe the bleach had actually helped more than he thought? Maybe he was one of the very few that were immune?  
  
"-either way," Ruben was saying, "we should bunker down somewhere and figure out a plan."

"Plan? Why?"

Ruben sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.

" _Because_. If the soldiers see us, they're likely to shoot on sight. If they're doing that, they have no intention of letting us out of quarantine. Which means they're sticking around until they're sure everyone here is dead, infected or not. Which means...?" Ruben prodded. Noel shook his head. "Which _means_ , we need to get out of here. If the infected don't kill us, then the military will."

"You were in the army, right? Why would they do this?"

Ruben looked away. "You follow orders whether you like them or not. You trust that those orders are for the security of your home, even if it means killing people that might not deserve it."

With that, the subject dropped. Ruben went to peek outside, and when the coast was clear, he gestured for Noel to follow.

"Wait, didn't you bring anything with you?"

Noel froze. Ruben was going to be _so_ pissed when he found out that Noel dropped everything he brought with him from the apartment. All he had was the pipe.

"Um. It got dropped when I was running." He wasn't going to tell Ruben exactly _what_ he dropped unless they got back to the apartment and Ruben found out on his own.

"Of course," Ruben muttered. "Look, just, come on. I found a place we can wait the night out. I saw soldiers passing by earlier, so we might as well stay there. We're pretty far from the apartments, anyway."

Noel followed Ruben to a street a few blocks away. The buildings here had been boarded up long before the infected were ever a thing, and Ruben used a piece of metal to pry one of the boards off. He set his bag on the other side of the window, almost hopping in after it, but hesitated.

"Come on," Ruben turned to Noel, who watched him with wide eyes.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Yeah I'm _sure it's safe_ ," Ruben mocked, grabbing Noel's wrist, right where the bite was, and pulled him forward. He helped the smaller male scramble inside, before hauling himself up and over.

Noel landed on linoleum with a _whoof_ , coughing when dust flew up into the air. Ruben landed gracefully, immediately going through his bag for a light. The room was mostly empty, save for the counter, a few rotting boxes, and a makeshift bed made out of random cloths. An empty can of food was set off to the side. Ruben might have stayed here for the night, but it seemed as though someone else had made use of it as a more permanent shelter. Most of the items still in the room were collecting dust shoved up against the walls, the place neat yet dingy.

"One thing I realized," Ruben said, "is that most of the people are either gone or infected. That couple and the soldiers are the only ones I saw that weren't infected. There's no one in their homes, no one in the stores. I don't know if they're holding out somewhere else or if they managed to get out, but this part of the city is empty."

Ruben handed the flashlight to Noel and put the board back up over the window, shutting out most of the light coming from outside.

"How do you know they're not in their homes? They could be hiding out, just like us."

"Every place I checked, the door was wide open."

"But that doesn't mean-"

"Drop it," Ruben said, a warning in his voice. Noel scowled, arms crossing his chest defensively and averting his gaze. He shouldn't have followed Ruben.

Look how being without him was for Noel? Not even ten minutes and he got himself bit. Not even a full _day_ and now he had some kind of drug in his body that was pulling all kinds of shit on him.

"Whatever," Noel muttered petulantly. Ruben ignored him in favor of dropping on the little makeshift bed, pillowing his head with his arms and staring into the ceiling.

"Before we figure out how to get out of here, we should put down what we know." Ruben said after a moment of silence.

"Know about what?'

"Do you ever-" Ruben groaned, covering his face with his hands. "The infected, of _course_ the infected."

"I was just-"

"I'm not doing this right now," Ruben cut in. "The infected."

Noel huffed. "They eat people."

"They can be fast. When do they get fast, though? When they see someone to eat?"

"They bite people," Noel contributed, rubbing his wrist.

"That comes with _eating_ people, so I think that's established."

Noel glared at the other man. "I _mean_ , that's how they infect others. By biting people."

"They don't seem to feel pain," Ruben continued, "and some look like they've started to rot."

"And their body parts can fall off and they don't care." Noel added, shivering as he thought of Mr. Lieson.

"If those soldiers have it right, a good blow to the head will get rid of them."

"These are _people_!" Noel burst out, and Ruben looked up sharply. "They're not doing that because they _want_ to! They're infected!"

"Exactly," Ruben shot back, "they have no control over themselves. They're _eating_ people. I _checked_ Lieson, he did _not_ have a pulse."

"It could have stopped for a while. He has a heart condition."

"He thought he was having a heart attack. Once. Seven months ago. That's not a 'heart condition,'" Ruben said, making air quotes with his fingers. "The man was _dead_."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to believe that all those people that are _walking around out there_ are dead? How the hell does that make sense?"

"I don't know!" Ruben admitted in frustration. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't _know_. What I _do_ know is that they're not going to stop to wait for us to figure out if we need to protect ourselves or not. Give them even one second and they'll be on us without hesitation. The sooner you realize it's _them_ or _us,_ the more chance we have of actually _surviving this_."

Noel looked away after Ruben's speech, rubbing his wrist again without thinking of it.

"Noel." Ruben said, quieter than before. "What's wrong with your arm?"

"What? Nothing." Noel took a step back when Ruben stood up.

"Come here." Ruben ordered, advancing on Noel with the flashlight, backing him up against the wall.

"Back off," Noel said, crossing his arms over his chest and stuffing his hands under his pits in a poor attempt to keep it out of sight.

Ruben gave Noel a minute to comply before grabbing for him. Noel just barely managed to duck out of the way, but the man got a grip on him before Noel could scramble to the other side of the room.

Ruben wrestled him to the ground, the offending arm behind his back, with the man straddling him. He yanked the sleeve of Noel's shirt down, and shined the light on his arm.

Noel knew what he would find, or more importantly, wouldn't find, and he wasn't disappointed.

"Satisfied?" Noel asked, twisting his body in an attempt to dislodge the man on top of him.

"What happened here?" Ruben asked, tracing the healed mark, his voice softer now that he was no longer suspicious that Noel was a threat.

"Like I'm going to tell you," Noel sniped. "Get _off_."  
  
Noel stood up slowly, glaring at Ruben the whole time as he patted his clothes free of the dust from the ground. There was an obvious body print on the floor where the dust wasn't marred by shoes.

"So, what else do we know?"

"Fuck," Noel muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Ruben to hear, "least you could do is apologize."

"I'm _sorry_ , there, you happy?" Ruben said, not sounding sorry in the slightest. "Get over it and move on. How do we protect ourselves and keep from getting bitten?"

Noel groaned, wanted to scream. Wanted to _sleep_ , today had been far too long.

"How are we supposed to get out of the quarantine area with the military blocking everything?" Noel asked, sliding down the wall to sit on the ground.

"There's the sewers."

"No." No no no no no. Not happening. No way. No how.

"We have to get out _somehow_. We can't just stay here waiting for help that isn't coming," Ruben said, ever the voice of reason. He rifled through his bag again where he pulled out a can and rolled it to a surprised Noel.

He _was_ _starving_. After the day he had, he hadn't realized.

"Thanks." He pulled the tin open, a small can of Vienna sausages that in a normal, better, _safer_ time, he wouldn't look twice at.

The next thing out of Ruben's bag was his radio. Noel eyes drooped as Ruben began to fiddle with it, finding a few radio stations but nothing for news, at least not during the short amount of time it took for Noel to pass out.


	10. Chapter 10

Something was wrong with Noel. He wasn't sure how to pinpoint the problem in his own body, but it was just... off. Like he'd lost a finger and he was trying to learn how to deal without it.

Except he didn't lose a finger, nor had he lost any other body parts. Of that he was sure. And maybe the finger analogy might be a bit extreme but he couldn't explain it any other way.

This feeling stayed for the next week or so as they were stuck in the long since abandoned store. Ruben had given Noel strict instructions _never_ to leave while he was sleeping or getting supplies, and Noel was inclined to obey. The last time he tried it really, _really_ fucked him over.

But Noel was _bored_. It took only three days of wheedling before Ruben had had enough and picked up a few crossword puzzle books and the like, but there was only so much he could take. He did what he could by the small amount of light that filtered through the boards, because _someone_ decided not to leave the flashlight on for long periods of time in fear of it going out when they needed it most and no batteries to switch them out.

Except Ruben was hoarding batteries left and right. They actually had a decent stash of _stuff_ going though even Noel knew it wouldn't last them much longer. As he had seen himself, most of the stores were picked clean, and Ruben would only go so far away, for so long. Still, every time he left, a small part of Noel didn't expect him to come back.

One thing that Ruben left on, no matter what, was the radio. He smacked Noel's hand and glared at him every time the younger man came close in order to change it, however. He stuck to the same stations that didn't give them any new information. Go to the clinics, it said. The doctors there will make sure you're not infected, it said. They'll get out of the quarantine, it said.

Bull-fucking-shit.

It was the same thing every day. He got up, ate canned food, bickered and/or ignored Ruben, waited for Ruben to come back, ate, bickered and/or ignored Ruben, slept. It was a vicious cycle of nothing getting done and hoping that the military would get their shit together and the scientists would figure out how to deal with this and Noel could go home. Or somewhere else because he was pretty sure Mr. Lieson was still in the guest room and the jaw still in the trash can and blood still all over the floor.

Okay, so maybe Noel didn't want to go back _there,_ but he'd figure things out. Maybe stay with Fiona?

Except, he didn't know how Fiona was faring, and he now he'd made himself sad.

It was the middle of the day when they got the news. Ruben was fiddling with a map, having decided they were going to escape through the sewers whether Noel liked it or not, and Noel was being passive aggressive by rearranging all of Ruben's perfectly arranged cans of food, which the older man had divvied up evenly. Noel switched some of the cans so that Ruben had all the nasty crap.

_There have been reports of mass killings by a large group of infected. The whole city has been placed under quarantine, and many other cities and towns have followed suit. The CDC has assured us that a cure is on the way, but it has been advised that people lock their doors and if possible stay in their homes to avoid infection. Those infected or suspected infected should be placed in an area separated from those who are not and avoided at all costs in an effort to reduce risk of infection. It is- who is that? Get him out of here-_

The station went to static soon after that, and the two men were left to silently stare at the radio in growing trepidation.

Noel didn't care if he were bored. He'd rather stay in here than go out there.

***

"I found these," Ruben said, placing a walkie-talkie next to Noel. "In case something happens when I get supplies."

"Thanks?" Noel responded, picking up the device and turning it over in his hands. He shifted away from the other man slightly when Ruben sat down next to him.

"It's getting worse," Ruben admitted, his tone low, tired. "The clinic at the school is gone. The soldiers at the roadblocks are gone. More of the infected are coming around here. Eventually one of us will screw up and we'll be surrounded with no way out."

"So what are we going to do?"

Ruben sighed, thumping his head against the wall. "We should get out of the city. Maybe head into the woods where there's game, and out of what's probably _millions_ of infected by now. Hopefully find some people that have an idea of what the fuck they're doing. This whole _fucking_ city-"

Ruben groaned, running his hands over his face and muffling his next words, "look, we can't stay here. We can't wait around, expecting a cure when there probably won't be one."

Noel nodded, though Ruben didn't see it. He was just glad that Ruben was saying 'we' and not intending to abandon him again. Not that he ever actually did in the first place. Was it abandonment when it was Noel who kicked him out?

"How are we going to do that?" Noel asked, setting the walkie-talkie down on his lap.

Ruben half-shrugged. "I don't know. There's a lot of cars that were left behind. It shouldn't be too hard to load one up and head out."

Noel nodded again, leaning back against the wall while he thought it over. He'd go where Ruben did, of course. Everything that happened to him had been when the man was gone, and for some reason he was willing to keep an eye on Noel. Probably because they were the only two left. Hopefully, finding 'some people' didn't mean he would shoulder Noel off to the nearest that would take him, like some dog he didn't want to take care of.

Noel had to do _something_ that proved he was useful, but what? He couldn't fight to protect himself, couldn't aim a gun correctly, didn't know how to survive in the wilderness... Fuck, he couldn't even keep from getting bitten after five minutes of being alone.

No, he _needed_ Ruben, but the other man didn't need _him_. Noel was going to find a way to show him that he wasn't just a burden.

***

Bright and early the next morning, Noel found himself outside for the first time in what seemed like forever. If he imagined the world hadn't gone to complete shit, it was a nice day out, with cool, clean air, a huge difference from the dusty store he and Ruben had stayed.

There wasn't an infected in sight, so he didn't know what Ruben meant when he said there were more of them out there. Maybe they were asleep too? They had to sleep sometime.

Or maybe Ruben had been lying to him to make him think there were still infected running everywhere in order to keep him in his dirty lair of secrets.

Noel had to say, that was a surprisingly effective evil plan.

A few cars lined the street, but Ruben had already checked them before, and all of them were locked. He didn't want to chance breaking the windows in case the infected heard and showed up, especially without the guarantee of any car keys. Seemed Ruben had been a pretty straight-laced teen, and it wasn't even in question if Noel knew how to hotwire car. If they couldn't find one unlocked and ready to go, they'd figure something else out, but until then...

Most of their junk was on the sidewalk, waiting for Ruben to find something usable for them to pack it all in and get the hell out of dodge. Noel would offer to find a vehicle, but.

Instead, he was left waiting, partially hidden out of sight inside an old kiosk that looked about ready to topple over on top of him. Ruben found him a pipe as a weapon, which he clutched in his hand until his knuckles turned white. He didn't like this. Didn't like being out here alone without knowing if Ruben would come back alive. What if he got caught? It was one thing to go into a store with the relative safety of four walls surrounding you, another to have your back to the entire _world_ while you tried to see if it was worth breaking into a car.

Ruben came through, around the corner in this little itty bitty thing that didn't look big enough to hold two people, not to mention the number of bags they had. As soon as Ruben pulled up onto the sidewalk, Noel was out from inside the kiosk, as many bags in hand as possible, and stuffing them into the backseat and the trunk. Ruben made a gesture at him through the window to hurry up, face nervous, his eyes shifting to the rearview mirror. A lone infected stumbled along after him, its gait jerky and slowed with its twisted foot.

Noel slammed the trunk shut and hopped into the passenger seat, snapping back when the car lurched forward too quickly.

"What's the hurry? There's just one of them." Noel said as he pulled his seat belt on.

Ruben remained quiet until the they turned a corner, then- "That."

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of infected where pouring down the street, out of buildings, alleyways, anywhere they could get into they were spilling out of, and they were all coming toward them. Ruben stopped the car, hesitating for a moment before putting it into reverse. A few of the infected began to run, one leaping on the hood just as Ruben jerked to a stop to put the car in drive again as they turned around, immediately throwing off the creature before it got a grip. It went flying with a screech, muffled by the squealing tires on the pavement.

Noel held on for dear life as Ruben took corners and swerved around abandoned vehicles, clipping a few infected. Noel watched as they spun around, dropping to the ground, reaching out with broken arms, still trying to get them.

"Why'd we go that way?!" Noel asked loudly, his breath catching in his throat as Ruben made a risky maneuver between two trucks that must have crashed into each other at some point.

"What?"

"Why'd you go down that way if you knew they were there?"

"I didn't," Ruben said. "All the streets were like that."

Noel wasn't going to ask how Ruben managed to get the car. He was going to find a way to properly thank him for his achievement. Someday.

The next few streets weren't near as heavy as the last one, though there was an unusual amount of infected roaming around. When Ruben said there were more, Noel didn't realize it was to this extent, and he had no idea how they survived for as long as they did at the store.

Noel was finding a new appreciation for the man.

Despite the masses of infected, it wasn't too hard to get out of the city. That first giant horde was the last one they saw, and the spattering here and there slowly diminished until there were only a few hanging around in front of the buildings. There were no other people, no sign of them save for what they left behind in their rush to get away. Noel had seen the remains of the roads blocks, a few every couple of streets as if they were constantly losing more ground- which they probably were.

Noel rubbed his wrist as he thought about the clinic with Dr. Park. The weird... episodes had gone away, though occasionally he felt a little strange, as if he were floating, like a cloud. Other times he felt a cold chill, but it went away after minutes.

There were fewer signs of infected the further they got out of the city, a few wondering lost souls in the fields, an occasional car wrapped around a tree or another car or left abandoned. Noel thought that people might not have known how serious the situation truly was, and didn't try to get out of town until it was too late and they couldn't. And now they were infected too.

***

The first person they saw was about ten miles outside of the city. This man, dressed in a grungy coat, his graying hair sticking up wildly- they thought him to be one of the infected at first, if not for the way he stuck out his thumb like a hitchhiker as they drove toward him, waving his other hand above his head to get their attention.

With wary eyes, Ruben rolled the car into a stop, cracking Noel's window an inch or two once they pulled up next to him.

"We don't have room," Ruben said the moment the strange man came to the window.

"I can see that," the man said, grinning widely as he peered through the back window to see their stash filling the back seat. "I don't suppose you can spare something to drink? It's mighty hot out here."

Noel looked at Ruben, who nodded. Noel turned in his seat to dig out one from a pack, listening in as the other two talked.

"Did you just get out of the city?" Ruben asked.

"That I diddly did." The man was still grinning when Noel came back up with the bottle. He rolled his window further down to hand it to him, and the man snatched it out of his hand, immediately uncapping it to chug it down. He sighed happily, wiping his face off once he was done, the bottle almost empty. "Hits the spot."

"Have you seen any others?"

The man shrugged, his grin growing wider to show yellowed and missing teeth.

Noel felt something bad in the pit of his stomach, and he looked around, eyes searching for anything out of the ordinary. When the man saw him, he gave a wet, raspy laugh.

"Too late for you, boys."

Behind the trees came men with guns trained on their little car, four or five smudgy people with grins to match that of the man who stopped them.


	11. Chapter 11

"Son of a _bitch_ _._ " Ruben muttered, hand resting over his gun on his hip. Even if he had training in the army, Noel doubted he could so much as pull his gun out in time before one of them fired off a shot.

"What's going on?" Noel asked, panic rising into his throat. He heard a click as a bullet was loaded into a chamber, and at first thought the man outside their car had a gun too, but when Noel looked at him, he noticed the man weaponless.

"Bandits," Ruben replied uselessly just as one of them spoke up.

"Good job, Garrett, finally got us a good haul," one of the men said, and Garrett, the man outside their window gave a flourishing bow, then stepped away.

"Just doing what I do, Yancy," Garrett said, stuffing his hands in his jacket, whistling a merry tune as he began down the road again.

"You two, get out the car with your hands above your head, and don't try anything funny," Yancy ordered, obviously the leader of this merry band of bandits.

"Don't do anything stupid," Ruben hissed to Noel as he did as he was told, slowly opening his door to show he wasn't dangerous, then put his hands up in the air.

Noel scoffed, because _that_ was a ridiculous idea, and followed Ruben's example.

"That's it boys. We don't want any trouble," Yancy said, waving his gun in the air as his men tittered behind him. "All we want is your stuff."

Ruben remained quiet as Yancy gestured for one his men to take a look inside the car.

"They've got a _lot_ ," the man said, and Yancy laughed.

"What, have you too been hoarding it?" Yancy asked, stepping closer to see better. Still, Ruben didn't answer, and all Noel could do was look between the two, wondering what was about to happen. Ruben was planning something.

Yancy must have been the only one with brains, too, because as his focus went to the car, so did theirs, and once their guns were stupidly pointed at the ground in their lack of attention, Ruben made his move.

He grabbed Yancy by the collar, pulling the bandit against his chest to wrap his arm around the man's neck. Ruben placed the muzzle of his gun against Yancy's head, all done smoothly, as though this was a regular occurrence for the ex-soldier. In the scuffle, Yancy dropped his own gun, his hands clutching at Ruben's restricting arm, gasping for air.

The dumbasses he had for henchmen stared, their jaws gaping as their leader got manhandled.

"Fuck- _fuckers_." Yancy gasped.

"What do we do?" The man whose task it was to look through the car had the gall to ask.

"G- _Guns_."

"Uh-uh," Ruben shook Yancy a little, tapping his gun against the man's head, "I don't think you want to do that.

Some of the guns trained on Ruben and Yancy were lowered, the men unsure of whose directions to follow.

" _Idiots!"_ Yancy gulped, Ruben's arm tightening around his arm. " _Shoot_."

Three shots rang in the air, two muzzles aimed at Ruben's head.

Ruben was fine, Noel saw. The men couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

Noel's fingers felt wet. He didn't remember putting his hand on his stomach, and when he put pressure it sent a wave of fire through him. He looked down, moving his hand away, feeling... empty, despite how blood covered his hand. It came from a hole in his shirt, and when he looked down, more spilled out. It was then that Noel realized what happened.

"Um, Ruben?"

In his defense, Ruben was on the other side of the car. He couldn't see what concerned Noel so, nor did he have any reason to believe that the men were capable of doing _anything_ right.

"Ruben?"

" _What_?"

His legs wouldn't move, and his vision became dark, so he held up his hand for the man to see before he crumbled against the car, sliding to the ground just as he heard a fourth shot.

***

His whole body burned, originating from his stomach and spreading out to his toes and fingers. He convulsed, his back arching upward, a panicked voice floating above his head whispering words he didn't understand.

Then, the burning receded to that one, little point above and to the left of his belly button, and as the pain left, his senses came about.

The voice belonged to none other than Ruben, alternating between _shit_ and _you're gonna be okay, stay with me_. The engine of the car rumbled in the background. Good, the bandits hadn't got that yet.

Ruben must not have seen Noel open his eyes, as he focused on stopping the bleeding. Past the car, on the ground he saw a large, dark lump. As his vision cleared he realized it was Yancy, eyes wide open in shock, lifeless. The other lump near the tires had to be one of his lackeys. There were no others in sight.

Noel grunted, shifting up only to find himself hindered by Ruben, who pushed him back to the ground.

"Stay still, Noel. Let me stop the bleeding." Ruben's voice was steady, but he sounded anything but calm. His hands were covered in blood. Noel's blood.

"I'm fine," Noel attempted, batting at Ruben's hands. The man gave him the stink-eye and refused to back off. "They must have just grazed me."

"I _saw_ the wound, Noel. He didn't just- he didn't _graze_ you."

"I told you, I'm fine." Noel repeated, shoving at Ruben. The man wasn't ready for the strength behind Noel's push, and landed on his ass. The shirt Ruben had held to his stomach fell to the ground. Which, fuck, that was Noel's shirt. He didn't think to pack a second one. Noel clasped a hand over the gun wound.

"Noel! You're going to-" Ruben stopped, his brows coming together. Noel hadn't been fast enough to hide it. "Move your hand."

"Don't worry about it."

"I said move your hand."

"And I said _don't worry about it._ I'm _fine_." To make a point, Noel stood up, then promptly fell over again when his vision blurred and his head felt dizzy.

"Shit, dammit!" Ruben crawled over to him, laying him out on his back. Too weak to resist, Noel's hand fell away at Ruben's insistence, holding it up to see for himself that Noel wasn't lying. "What the..."

"Told you. Just a graze."

"I saw it. It was right here."

Noel's stomach churned just from turning his head, but he had to see for himself, too. Ruben fingered a small, whitish patch of skin where the pain was slowly fading. His skin, dirty and bloody, showed no signs of a scratch, let alone a hole the size of a bullet.

"You imagined it," Noel lied, refusing to look Ruben in the eye.

"I know what I saw." Ruben stated, grabbing the wadded shirt and quickly finding the hole that proved what had happened. He fingered the hole, right where the scarred mark on Noel's stomach would be. "Tell me the truth."  
  
Noel sat up slowly, wincing as he did so. He was still sore. "I don't know.  
  
"You're hiding something from me," Ruben accused. "Ever since I found you, you've been lying."

"I haven't lied." Noel replied indignantly, he remembered no such thing.

"Then what about this?" Ruben pulled on Noel's arm, raising it up into the light to show the bite mark. "I've never seen this scar here before. Or the one on your stomach."

"Oh, so you've spent time looking at me when I haven't noticed?" Noel diverted nastily, pulling his arm out of Ruben's grip. He felt a small amount of satisfaction when red colored Ruben's fair cheeks.

"What- no, that- that's not the point! What are you hiding?"

Noel thought about not telling him. What could the man do to him that was worse than getting _shot_? But honestly? He had no idea what the _fuck_ was happening to him, and the more he thought about it, the more scared he became. He should be dead by now. At the very least he should be infected, but he was neither. And he didn't know why. If anything, it was the experimental vaccine that Dr. Parks gave him, but what could he do with that information? He had no idea what she'd injected into him, and even if he did he had no way of doing anything with that knowledge. He was a half semester away from being a community college dropout, let alone someone with the know-how to run a lab and the equipment.

Fuck he missed Fiona. While she wouldn't have any idea what was going on with him either, she still would have been a shoulder to lean on. Hell, even Terry would have been preferable to Ruben. At least he had some semblance of a hope that the man wouldn't shoot him in the head as soon as he told him he'd been bitten.

Okay, so maybe he didn't know Terry _that_ well, and well, he didn't really think Ruben would shoot him when he wasn't even sure if he was infected, but it was the principle of the thing! Ruben was his archenemy of a neighbor. The douchebag that he could spend hours ranting about to Fiona and contemplating ways of getting back at him even if it never amounted to anything.

But Ruben was the only one there. And holy _fuck_ did Noel need _someone_ to talk to about this.

So he told Ruben everything. About leaving the apartment, screwing up his leg, the horde- though he omitted any facts that might let Ruben know he'd unintentionally sent them after the man- the school, Dr. Parks, the vaccine, the daring escape that might be a little fluffed up for Noel's sake, up until Ruben found him again.

Ruben listened with rapt attention, silently soaking it all in until Noel heaved a large breath, burying his head in his hands.

"So, it's what healed you from... this?" Ruben flicked his hand at Noel's stomach, and the younger man nodded.

"Yeah. I've been kinda... out of it too, I guess. Like I'm half asleep. And sometimes things get weird, like... Like really loud and I can't turn it down, or turn it on. Sometimes I swear you're shouting at me when you're not, it's so loud. And when someone has a gun." Noel thought back to when he first woke up after being injected, how as soon as he hopped the fence and heard the gunfire from the front of the school, he thought he'd go deaf.

"Have you been... hungry?" Ruben asked, looking at Noel with suspicious, guarded eyes. This is what Noel had wanted to avoid, but he told the truth before, the least he could do was continue to do so.

"Well, yeah? Starving actually." Speaking of which, Noel was hungry _now_.

"For people?"

Noel balked, the disgust on his face obvious. "Are you fucking insane? _No_ , I do not want to eat _people_."

Just the thought of it made Noel want to puke, and he shuddered in revulsion. He absolutely did not want to, nor would he ever, eat another person. Even if it meant starving to death, that was just wrong on so many levels.

Ruben sighed in relief. "Thank fuck," he muttered under his breath.

"I, ew, no, you know what? Just go away. Shoo." Noel flapped his hands at the other man, who stood, backing away with his hands up in surrender. "Don't even talk to me anymore."

"I'm just saying." Ruben continued. "It's a valid question, considering."

"Uh, no, it's not." Noel attempted to stand again, and found his feet a little steadier, his head a little less dizzy. He leaned against the car and surveyed his surroundings. "What happened while I was out, anyway?"

"One of the fuckers shot you, and when you went down I took out Yancy and one of the others. The other two ran off with tails between their legs." Ruben stooped next to henchman number one and began searching his pockets.

"Ruben!" Noel reprimanded.

"What? He has ammo and weapons we can use. It's better than trying to find a store that hasn't been ransacked and getting eaten in the process."

He held out a machete to Noel, its blade covered in blood, but Noel refused to take it. After a moment of holding it out, Ruben looked up at him to see the younger man shake his head.

"How about no?"

"Oh yeah? You think that little pipe is going to do you any good? If you're going to hit them, do it with something that'll count."

"Who says I'm going to hit _anyone_?" Noel crossed his arms over his head chest, leaning his hip against the hood of the car to keep him upright.

"Can you stop being difficult and take the damn thing before I leave you out here on your own?"

Noel huffed, snatching the weapon out of Ruben's hand. The man probably would too.

Ruben stood after checking the men's pockets, dusting off his pants. There was no point, they both looked as though they just stepped off a horror set, with their tattered and bloody clothes. Or, well, tattered and bloody for Ruben. Just bloody for Noel, as he was missing half his clothes in the first place.

Noel shifted uncomfortable, holding his arms closer to his body and shivering at the uncharacteristically cool breeze.

"I don't suppose you thought to grab clothes?" Noel asked as Ruben began to load up the few items he scavenged from the dead men.

"I have a few shirts. But... let's stop somewhere first, get cleaned off before- f _uck, fuck!_ "  
  
Noel jumped at Ruben's sudden yell, accompanied by a growl by his feet. Noel rounded the car to see what was going on, just in time to see Ruben kick off henchman-number-one's hand around his ankle and teeth gnawing on the toe of his boot.

"I thought you..." Noel said as he watched Ruben back away, his gun drawn on the creeping man, attempting to crawl his way toward the ex-soldier, pulling himself over hot pavement.

"So did I. I shot him in the chest. He shouldn't be alive. He's... He's one of them, now," Ruben stated incredulously as the infected slowly crawled over.

"Should we- should we leave him here?" Noel asked, keeping his distance even though Ruben only gave short steps away to keep out of the infected's reach.

"We can't." Ruben replied, gripping the handle of his gun tight. "Give me the machete."

"What? Why?" Noel held it up, almost placing it against his chest in a show of _mine_ when he remembered the blood on it, and what it probably had been used for previously. He gave the infected man a wide berth as he came to Ruben, proffering the wanted weapon, only for Ruben to shove the gun in his hands.

Noel held it loosely, surprised at its weight and the fact that Ruben would give it up so easily, especially when Noel didn't really know anything them- something of which Ruben knew.

He watched in curiosity, then horror, as Ruben brought the machete down on the infected's neck with a strong swing, almost severing it in two.

"Ruben!" He cried out, covering his mouth as Ruben took another swing. When the man was done with his work, Noel found his voice again. "He could have been cured!"

"Then what? Just so he could die again from being shot? There's no coming back from this. The man was _dead_. Just like Lieson."

"But." Noel's voice faltered. "I didn't. I was infected, and I healed! He could have too."

"Don't you understand what's going on?" Ruben shouted, waving the machete in the air as his hands gestured to encompass the world around them. "They're not getting better! Lieson lost his whole _jaw_. The rest of _them_ are _rotting_. You- you're _different_. You're still _alive_. They don't have a chance. You do."

Before Noel could respond, Ruben went to the car, throwing the machete in the back and slamming the door shut behind him. For a moment Noel thought the man was going to leave him behind, but instead he sat there. It took Noel a moment to collect himself before he could join Ruben in the car. Without a word, Ruben put the car and began to drive.

Within minutes, they came across a small roadside park that purported fishing further in. When Ruben deemed the coast clear, he nudged the little car into a gravel parking space and got out, Noel following at a slightly slower pace.

"I doubt the bathrooms are working, so just, wash off here while I get you a shirt." Ruben ordered, leaving Noel alone to clean himself up. It felt weird taking an impromptu bath in a park that could be seen from the road, and he held a small fear that something might be waiting for him in the water, but it had been days since he'd had a chance to clean himself off. During that time, with the blood came the dirt and grime that had accumulated on his body, and he couldn't waste the water they did have on it.

Thankfully, the only thing under his feet was squishy mud and rock. Ruben sat with his back to Noel in some semblance of privacy at a nearby bench, clothes folded up beside him. He leaned back, arms spread on either side as he stared up at the blue sky. Noel wondered what the man might be thinking about. Aside from the infected prowling around for human flesh and just the fact that Noel was reduced to bathing in a pond of all things, it seemed like a perfectly normal day.

Once he was out of the pond and dressed, he switched places with Ruben, letting the older man get a chance to clean himself with the same amount of privacy. There was something just so relaxing, sitting at the park, looking up at the clear sky. The rest of the world no longer existed, it was just him and Ruben, nothing else.

"I'm not like them, right?" Noel asked as Ruben sat down next to him, smelling much less ripe than before.

He heard the shifting of cloth and the creak of the bench signaling that Ruben turned to him. He looked down when he felt pressure against his chest, to see Ruben's hand the culprit.

"No," Ruben said, taking his hand away. Noel felt the loss immediately, but he would never admit that to Ruben.

Noel didn't know what was in store for them, where they would go or what they would do or even if they would survive this. He just had to keep going, and hopefully eventually they'd figure it out.


	12. Chapter 12

"I don't want to do this," Noel said as he held the machete above the growling infected below him. What used to be a man was little more than a shell. Ruben had found him on the side of the road, likely having caterpillered his way out of the wreckage that blocked the road. The man had no arms, and little left of his leg. An unhinged jaw snapped and clacked as he tried to bite whatever he could reach, which turned out to be nothing but air. It was for Noel's benefit, he knew. Ruben had searched high and low to find someone that wouldn't offend Noel's moral sensibilities when it came to taking them out. The older man had gotten it into his head that Noel needed to get _used_ to doing something like this because, as he said, _I might not be around forever, and you'll have to fend for yourself_.

Noel was willing to bet that between the two of them, Ruben _wouldn't_ be the one to die first, and that's taking into account the fact that it might be a little harder than normal to kill Noel. At least he assumed. He wouldn't let Ruben test it out, even though he caught the man giving him a speculative look when he thought Noel wasn't paying attention, as though he were thinking of all the ways he might be able to take Noel out without actually killing him in order to figure out how to best fight the infected.

Yeah, no. Not happening. Just because Noel could apparently heal from a gunshot wound in mere minutes did not mean it wasn't the most excruciating pain on earth, and he had no intention of going through it again, experiments for personal safety be damned.

Back to the matter at hand. The infected man in front of him wiggled under Ruben's boot, which pressed him to the ground to keep him from getting away due to Noel's hesitation. He'd rather not have to do this, but considering the circumstance he understood _why_ Ruben thought it was important that he learn how to protect himself- something he couldn't do if he didn't have the heart to hurt someone else.

He had before, though, even if he pretended like it never happened, when he had to use the crowbar on the woman that grabbed him just after he left the apartment. Since then he had known that there was something very wrong with them, more so than the fact that they were cannibalizing people. That getting their heads bashed in would barely affect them.

Ruben had explained it to him multiple times, they had destroy the part that sent information from the brain to everything else. If there was no information flow, then the body couldn't move. So, they could either destroy the whole brain, or sever the spinal cord at the neck, therefore destroying the flow.

That Ruben had figured this out on his own disturbed Noel.

"You need to learn," Ruben repeated for probably the tenth time that day.

"Look, can't we-"

"Noel. Do it."

"This is disgusting. You're fucking disgusting," Noel said, raising the blade. He swung it down, stopping short of the infected man's neck with a sharp inhale. "I can't."

"Look, I get it, you don't want to hurt another person, but these aren't _people_ anymore. There's nothing human left in them. From now on, it's about survival. If you want to survive, you _have_ to be able to protect yourself, and you can't do that if you're relying on someone else to do it for you."

"But maybe-"

"There's no 'maybe' about it. You can't come back from _this_ ," Ruben waved his hand at the infected man, encompassing all the injuries had sustained. His milky eyes looked wild and sick, and his skin pale, almost yellow, like his whole being was filled with infection- which, in reality, it was. "Let me ask you this, if a man cornered you in an alley and had a knife, would you protect yourself by any means necessary?"

"Well, that depends. Maybe he just wants my money?"

"You-" Ruben sighed, rubbing his hands along his face, something that was becoming characteristic for the ex-soldier when it came to dealing with Noel. "Answer the question."

Noel hesitated, mulling it over though he knew the answer. "I guess, I mean, if he was trying to kill me."

"Okay. Then, how is this any different?"

"I don't know, maybe the fact that you're holding down someone that can't hold a knife on the account of the fact that he has _no arms_?"

Noel felt himself kind of smart for his snark, until Ruben gave him an unimpressed look and lifted his boot off the infected man's back. Noel screeched when the man lurched forward, teeth aiming for his foot.

"This isn't funny!" Noel said as he backed away, brandishing the machete in front of him as though it might deter his attacker. Considering the man didn't care one way or the other that Noel held it, showed he needed a different tactic. "Ruben!"

Noel went around Ruben in a large circle backwards. Despite his dismembered state, the infected man was quite the squirmer, and moved quicker than Noel expected. Bits and pieces of rotted flesh trailed behind them, until Ruben was surrounded in a gruesome circle.

"You know what you have to do." Ruben stated, watching Noel back away with a small grin.

"This isn't funny!" Noel barked. "Do something."

"I'm dead," Ruben said. "You're all alone. No one to protect you, and no way to get away. What do you do?"

"I'm serious." Noel huffed, taking a new tactic and heading toward Ruben. If he could get the infected aggroed onto Ruben, the man would have to deal with it.

Except, Ruben wasn't playing his game and only stepped away when Noel got close, so the snarling, wiggling creature kept after the younger man.

"You can't keep this up forever," Ruben warned.

"Fine, _fine_ ," Noel said, holding up the machete in front of his chest and looking imploringly at the other man for help. Ruben came forward, putting his boot down on the infected's back again, stopping him in his place. The infected man growled and snarled to no avail. He was too weak to fight Ruben off.

Noel groaned softly, stepping forward, the machete now held out before him like a sword. Ruben remained quiet as Noel circled them both, pretending to find a good place when really he was wasting time in the hopes that _something_ would happen and Ruben would have to hold off on having him do this indefinitely.

Unfortunately, no distraction was forthcoming, and Ruben was beginning to catch on, if his rising brow was any indication.

Noel stopped, the machete before him. He felt like an executioner. It wasn't his place to say if someone else should die or not. So what if they were trying to kill him? That wasn't a good argument, and he knew Ruben would argue it with him until Noel conceded he was in the wrong, but fuck he didn't want to do this.

What if they could be saved? They were still people, even if they weren't affected by loss of blood and limb. Could Noel really blame them when all they were trying to do was survive too?  
According to Ruben, yes. As the ex-soldier so kindly pointed out previously, there was more than enough food to go around, but the infected didn't touch it. People were their source of food, and Ruben had the idea that maybe they didn't need to eat in the first place.

"Noel." Ruben's voice shook him out of his thoughts, and when Noel looked at the other man, Ruben waved his hand. "Get on with it."

Noel breathed out slowly, swallowing in order to keep down anything that might come up.

He didn't expect his hands to be steady, but he didn't expect it to be so... hard, even if the blade touched the infected's neck where it should.

"You need to swing harder," Ruben advised, ignoring Noel's look of horror.

"Ruben." Noel lifted the machete, but didn't raise it again.

"What? Go on."

Noel shook his head, stepping away and dropping the blade to the ground as he lifted his hands up. "No, I'm done. I'm not doing this."

Ruben spluttered something Noel didn't bother to listen to as the younger man turned back to the car. He did hear the man curse, however, and the distinctive noise of Ruben finishing off the infected himself.

"Dammit, Noel," Ruben said as he came up from behind. "If you can't-"

"I don't care," Noel said. "Fucking leave me here like you keep threatening. I'm not doing it."

"Eventually-"

"Fuck _off_ ," Noel shot before Ruben could go another rant. "I said _no_."

Noel refused to look at the other man, surprisingly silent in his anger. Noel knew eventually Ruben would go off him again, but until then...

They rode in silence for a good while, passing through farmland. He wasn't sure where they could possibly be heading, as far as he knew everything was overrun. If Fiona had been right, the infection had been going in a certain direction, so maybe the east coast hadn't gotten hit so hard? There was no telling if his parents made it through.  He wanted to find out. He _needed_ to.

“Where are we going?” He finally asked, turning to Ruben. The man had the window rolled down, one arm leaning out. Were they not in the middle of the world ending, he would have almost looked... carefree. That, and if he weren't frowning the whole time.

Rather than answer, Ruben gave a shrug, which was unusual for the man that had always had a plan.

“We've got to be headed somewhere. I mean, we'll run out of gas if we're just driving around aimlessly.”

“We'll figure it out.” Was all Ruben had to contribute.

Noel paused for a moment. “I was thinking Florida.”

Ruben grimaced, but didn't say anything.

“Where is your family?”

“Would you just _shut up_ for once,” Ruben snarled. Noel pulled back in shock at the sudden aggravation, before his own annoyance came to show itself.

“What the _fuck_ dude. All I did was ask-”

“No, you didn't just _ask_. You're pushing it.”

“Oh just go and fuck yourself, alright? I for sure _didn't_ ask to put up with your angsty bullshit the whole time.”

The car screeched to a stop, with Noel holding onto his seatbelt for dear life.

“You know what? If you have a problem with it, then get out.”

They were both quiet, staring at each other, a dare in their eyes. Noel was nothing if not stubborn.

“You know what?” Noel said, pulling out a bag that was filled with a few odds and ends of his, then tugged on the handle. “Fuck this, and fuck you.”

As soon as the door was closed, the tires were squealing and kicking up rocks as the car sped away, Noel glaring it all the way, until it was little more than a speck on the road. It was only then that he got a good look at his surroundings. The road stretched on for miles in both directions, with yellow fields boxing him in. A few houses dotted the rather dull scenery, some with barns. He even thought he saw a tractor sitting in the middle of a field. He was hoping that the person that left it there wasn't still hanging around.

He couldn't believe Ruben would just abandon him there. Not that he was bluffing when he got out, but a part of him hoped the ex-soldier would have at least tried to stop him. Apparently he wasn't bluffing either.

Despite their dislike for each other, something that wasn't covered in the slightest, it still stung that Ruben had left like that. _Fuck._ Maybe he should have just sucked it up.

Fuck that. He was still pissed at the man and that wasn't going to go away any time soon. He'd be better off without him. Probably not. But.

But.

Hiking the bag higher up over his shoulder, he began to walk in the only direction that seemed viable. Straight ahead. Maybe he could find a way to Florida himself. He didn't need Ruben.

 _Fuck_.


	13. Chapter 13

It was little surprise when he saw a familiar small car driving in his direction. Noel made no indication that he saw it, ignored it as stopped next to him with the window rolled down. A voice gruffed out, “get in.”

He kept walking.

“Damn it, Noel. Get the fuck in the car.”

Noel responded with a middle finger.

He heard the car continue on behind him, and dared a look back. It made a tight u-turn in the middle of the road, then crept up on him.

“I'm sorry, alright? Fuck.” Ruben almost sounded it, too. “Please, just get back in.”

The car followed Noel at a crawl, but he had no intention of giving in. He was still pissed. Hell, it'd only been ten minutes since Ruben had first drove off. Noel wondered if he'd do it again. Maybe he'd even come back the second time, too. Why was he even doing this, anyway? Ruben hated him. He made that clear pretty much every time he saw him.

“You know, I'd really rather not.” Noel finally said, stepping up his pace.

“What are you going to do? You don't have any real supplies. You'll die out here.”

“Rather be out here than deal with your constant bitching.”

“I'm not-”

“Don't _even_ act like you haven't been. It's every five _fucking_ minutes.” Noel stopped, stooping to look into the window so he could give Ruben a good, judgmental look. “It's always _something_ wrong. How I act, what I say, what I think. I'm. Fucking. _Done_.”

Noel heard a sigh, then Ruben got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

“Look, I'm sorry, alright? It's not like this has been easy for me either, you know.”

Noel scoffed. “You seem like you're enjoying yourself enough.”

Ruben grimaced, shaking his head. “I'll... I'll try and tone it down, alright? We don't need to be at each other's throats, especially not with what's been happening.”

“Yeah, because I'm part of the problem, right? Just put some of that blame on me.”

“Noel-” Ruben exhaled slowly, clenching his hands and releasing them. “Noel. You're being difficult.”

“Huh. So this is what it's like, being on the other side of that.” Noel gave the man a pointed look. “Not so fun, is it?”

“Is that what this is? You're punishing me?”

“You _abandoned_ me. _Twice_.” They weren't in a relationship. He was not dating some controlling freak. He wasn't going to put up with it. Not that he would even if they were. It was just, he had no reason he had to. No excuse.

“I came back!” Ruben argued.

“So you're punishing _me_ then? What happens when you don't? Am I just supposed to- to, what, fucking _learn_ to wait for you and _hope_ you'll come back and save me or something? Is that what you want? To be some fucking hero?”

“No...” Ruben said, though Noel didn't feel convinced.

“What happens when you do it again, and the next time I'm dead, and you're just out there throwing a temper tantrum? I can't- fuck, I can't.” Noel's breath hitched. He wasn't going to cry, he _wasn't_ , but it _hurt_. The first time, he'd gotten _bitten_. That fear, that _reality_ that he was going to die, that he was going to become one of those creatures because he left the stupid apartment because he didn't think he could survive alone there.

Just the thought alone, the memory, made his vision tunnel, his heartbeat pick up, and his breath sound so harsh in his ears.

“I'm a fucking _experiment_ now, do you know that? There's something wrong with me and I don't know what that Doctor _did_ to me. How long will it last? I've been thinking- assuming that I'm _cured_ , but what if it's just been held back? That it's still there waiting for whatever the fuck was done to me wears off? That I don't- don't get to wake up again? Not myself.”

He felt a hand on his arm, pulling him, found his face smushed against a hard chest and arms circling his body.

Noel hiccuped, curling into Ruben's shirt. He wouldn't allow himself to be embarrassed about this, not right now.

***

“My parents are in Florida,” Noel said, once the car got going again, and more fields came into view. Really, it felt like they were on a road trip more than anything, not just trying to escape the horrors of the city.

“Oregon,” Ruben said after a moment's silence. Noel turned to him, waiting for him to continue. “My mom- stepmom, anyway. Ex. Whatever.”

“What- uh, what happened there?”

Ruben shook his head. “Stupid shit. Real mom died when I was too young to remember her, dad raised me. He was a piece of shit but his new wife was nice. When I hit my teens, she finally realized she had had enough dealing with him and left, but we kept contact.”

“Was he really that bad?”

Ruben took a moment to answer this, too. “Not horrible. Just. Nothing was good enough for him, you know? It got worse after she left, but I couldn't tell her that. Thought joining the army might help, I don't know, make him proud or something. But...”

“Just not enough?” Noel guessed, and Ruben snorted.

“Never.”

“But what about her? Do you miss her?”

“Yeah.”

“Oregon's not that far away, you know.”

“I don't...”

“Wouldn't you want to know? I mean, at least have some closure?”

Ruben shifted in his seat. Noel knew he was uncomfortable answering these questions, but for as long as Ruben was willing to open up, Noel was going to ask. He really didn't know much about the other man except for how much of a pest he liked to be.

“I... I wouldn't mind it, really. It'd be nice to know. Yeah. Yes.”

“We could find a map? Shouldn't be too hard.”

Noel was both shocked a more than a little pleased with himself at the small, grateful smile on Ruben's face.

Night was going to hit in a few hours, and it was only then that Ruben began to take a better look at his surroundings, slowing down as they passed houses by until he found the one that worked for him. A rather large farmhouse with a mile long gravel driveway caught his eye. A white fence surrounded it, and as far as Noel could tell, there wasn't any infected milling about.

They drove up slowly, eyes on the lookout for anything suspicious. One of the trees on the property had a tire swinging from its branches. A bright red barn sat off a ways away, the doors wide open. Noel could only hope that whatever animals that were in there had managed to get away.

“I think this would be a good place for the night,” Ruben said.

“What if there are people still here?”

Ruben hesitated before answering, “we can ask, if there are. Take the barn, even, if they don't want us in the house.”

They got out of the car, and Ruben grabbed both a gun and a pipe. He tossed the pipe to Noel, then went to the porch. He held a hand out to the other man, cocking his head to listen. When he was satisfied, he gave the screen a light knock.

Nothing.

A harder knock the second time, but still nothing.

“I'll go in first, just wait out here.”

Noel huffed though he was secretly grateful. He didn't want to go up against another infected. He didn't want to have to... protect himself. He knew that someday, likely soon, he'd have to. He'd have to learn. To not be so _useless_. He just felt so sorry for them. What if there was a cure? If they could come back? What if there was a part of that person, still in there, trapped? The thought sent him shivers.

Noel leaned against the post of the porch steps, waiting. He couldn't hear Ruben inside, and the longer he waited, the more nervous he became. It was only as he place his foot on the first step that the ex-soldier came out with an all clear.

But with warnings. There was no guarantee that there wasn't one hiding, or able to get in. With that in mind, Noel stuck to Ruben like glue, never little more than a few inches away and running into him more than once until the man turned with a raised eyebrow.

Noel just shrugged. “What?”

“Let's check out the kitchen,” Ruben said, heading down the hall with determination in his step. Noel had to be quick to catch up.

The kitchen was neat and tidy, the large windows letting in a good amount of light that flooded the room. Ruben went to the fridge and began to rifle through it.

“Dude. Stop.” When Ruben didn't, he tried again, “Seriously, what if they come back?”

Ruben went stiff, than began to pull out random items of food. “They won't.”

“How do you know?”

His eyes flicked to the doorway. “You don't really want to know. Just... stay out of the room at the top of the stairs, alright?”

“Ruben. Ruben are they up there?”

Ruben didn't answer.

“Ruben, damn it, what did you do?”

“What I had to!” Ruben burst out. “They're _gone_. There's no helping them, and we can't go on for the rest of the night.”

“ _Fuck._ ” Noel plopped down in a dining chair, covering his face with his hands. Rather than continue to berate Ruben further, he slumped over onto the table, cushioning his head on folded arms. He heard Ruben rummaging around the cabinets, setting things down on the counters, and finally finding his way back to the fridge. The unmistakable sound of glass hitting against whatever else was in there, resounded through the air.

“Thank fuck,” Ruben muttered, and Noel looked up to see that he he had found an unopened bottle of whiskey. Ruben caught his eye. “I know what I'm doing tonight.”

Noel scoffed and stood up, unsure of where to go in the house that was still safe. “Where are we sleeping tonight?”

“There's only one... unoccupied bedroom that I know of. Figured we could settle up in there for the night.”

Ruben left the nonperishables on the counter as he led the way to the room in question, bottle still in hand. He pointed out the bathroom before continuing on, past a staircase that Noel had no intention of going up, until they stood in front of an open door.

The room itself smelled musty, as though no one had used it in ages. Considering it was likely nothing more than a guestroom, Noel understood. He was half tempted to open a window if the thought of any potential noise drawing in the infected didn't terrify him. But it did. Much more than the annoyance at the smell in the room.

Ruben tossed the bottle on the bed, then left with the promise that he'd be back in a moment. Noel sat down, grimacing at the flower pattern on the blankets, and the faded yellow paint on the walls. The drapes were a nasty green floral print, almost the same as the comforter. There were a few other objects in the room- a small wooden dresser with a matching vanity, with a small crack on top of the mirror, which perpetually leaned over from it's weight no matter how many times he tried to fix it. A few cobwebs hung in the corners.

It sort of reminded him of his grandmother's place. Quaint but... _old_. He wanted his apartment back. It had taken him so long to get it to feel like _his_. That it was his space. It wasn't exactly in the best part of the neighborhood- the only reason he could pay for it while working fast food, but still. He'd come to love it. And his neighbors, too. Some where shitty, like Ruben, though that man was the worst of them all. But it made the place lively. Noel didn't like being alone.

“One of us can take the mattress and the other the floor?” Ruben suggested when he came back in, bag in hand. He set it on the bed and pulled out a sleeping bag.

“I call bed.”

That caused Ruben to send him a rather immediate glare.

“I found the place. _And_ cleared it out.”

“It might be one of the last chances I get to sleep on one. I'm not giving it up.” To prove his point, Noel scooted back, until he was on the middle of the mattress, a challenge in his eye.

“Damn it, Noel.”

Noel rolled his eyes. “Dude, holy _fuck_. We're adults. We can share.”

Besides, it was a decent sized bed. It'd likely still feel a bit cramped, with two full grown men who would likely be trying to get as far away from each other as possible. Still. They could make it work.

Ruben huffed but didn't argue. Instead, he went to scavenge for more supplies out of the house until it became dark. Noel joined him this time, a little less nervous than he was when he first came in, with the lack of anything creeping around giving him a bit more courage. Still, he made sure that Ruben was close by.

He managed to find a good number of candles and matches, and a box of medical supplies in the bathroom. Mostly large rolls of bandages and antiseptic, though it wasn't a surprise, being a farm and all. The weed, though? A little more of a surprise. But hey, end of the world, who was he to judge?

By nightfall he had a decent stash of junk going, and when he went back to the guestroom, he closed the curtains and lit a candle. It didn't take long for Ruben to come join him, dumping his own findings on the floor next to the door. He immediately grabbed the whiskey and took a swallow, grimacing at the burn.

When he noticed Noel giving him a look, he held the bottle out.

“I'm only Nineteen.”

Ruben snorted, gesturing to the room. “See anyone here who's going to call the cops?”

Noel hesitated before slowly reaching out for the bottle, shooting Ruben a suspicious glance in case the man was screwing with him. He only raised an eyebrow at his antics.

He sniffed it first, wrinkling his nose at the strong smell of alcohol wafting from the liquid, then took a large gulp. Instant regret. He spluttered and coughed, turning red when Ruben began to laugh.

“I should have warned you. Sorry.” Ruben took the bottle back, still grinning as Noel grimaced, his tongue hanging out and betrayal on his face.

“That was _disgusting_.”

“You get used to it,” Ruben said as he took another drink, then thrust the bottle back at Noel.

“Should we really be drinking?”

“Nah.” Ruben shook the bottle until Noel took it back from him. He drank a little less than last time, but the taste was no better.

It didn't take long before he began to feel a little more relaxed, less nervous that an infected would come stomping- or crawling- up to them. They called it liquid courage for a reason, he supposed.

“Do you miss anyone?” Noel blurted out, handing the bottle back to Ruben. They'd made a good sized dent in it.

“Hm?” Ruben was a bit further gone than Noel by then.

“Friends, girlfriend, I don't know, kids?”

Ruben shrugged. “Not really. Haven't had a girlfriend since I left for the army, sure as hell don't have any kids. There are a few people I wouldn't mind seeing again, but no one I really cared for.”

“That sucks, dude.” When Ruben cocked his head, he continued. “Don't you feel lonely?”

Ruben thought over it for a moment. “A bit, I guess. I just didn't really care to make new relationships. I lost contact with pretty much everyone when I left and just... didn't want to go through it all over again.”

“Still. And you had a girlfriend then? Before? What happened to that?” Noel wasn't so sure why he wanted to know. Maybe it was the fact that Ruben was opening up to him more. It wasn't that it really mattered, but he wanted to know more about the man he was trying to survive with.

“Fuck her,” Ruben said, raising the bottle and pointing at Noel. “She was a _bitch_.”

“What did she- You know what? I'm not sure I want to know,” Noel ended when he noticed the glare, not toward him, thankfully, but toward the memory of whoever she had been.

“What about you? Your friends. And... that guy?”

Noel flushed. “He was new. Like, really new. Fiona was the only one I really cared about. Care about. You saw her when you came to complain.”

“Sorry, but you were really fucking annoying.”

Noel smirked at the non-quite-apology. “You made it worse for yourself. Half the shit I did to annoy you was on purpose because you kept annoying me.”

“I _knew_ it.”

Noel was sure he did.

After another large swallow, Ruben asked, “what's it like? With a guy.”

“What do you mean?” Noel had a good idea, he was just too embarrassed not to hold off the inevitable. Gay sex talk. Yay, what he always wanted to talk about.

“I don't know. Kissing. Fucking. It doesn't sound like it's really all that fun.”

“Uh, I can't really say about the fucking bit, but the kissing? It's... nice. I don't know if it's any different than with a girl.” He'd never kissed a girl before, but the few guys... There was something different about each one, a different experience all together. He was sure it was the same when it came to girls.

“You a virgin?” Ruben scoffed like it was the most ridiculous idea ever, but when Noel wasn't forthcoming with a denial, he frowned. “Fuck.”

“You offering?” Noel asked before he could stop himself. He'd meant it as a joke, but when Ruben's brows scrunched together, more in thought than disgust, a part of him became hopeful.

Wait, no. No. He _hated_ Ruben, didn't he? True, the man wasn't bad looking, even with the scars, but in no way did Noel want to give it up to someone like him. Someone he barely knew.

He just about jumped in bed with Terry, didn't he? He knew Terry less than he did Ruben. But he didn't hate Terry. Maybe, after these last few days, he was starting to hate Ruben a little less too. But to fuck him? No.

_No_.

A hand waved in front of his face, startling him. “You still there?”

“Huh?”

“I was saying, it'd be too weird. Too... I don't know. I don't know if I'd even like it. Sex with a guy, I mean.”

“I guess, you don't know if you don't try? I have no idea what to tell you.” Noel said.

“Come here,” Ruben said, motioning for Noel to come closer.

“What, why?” Noel asked as he crawled over the bed to the man sitting on the other side. “I'm not going to fuck you.”

“I didn't say 'let's fuck' I said 'come here'.” When Noel reached him, Ruben pulled him closer by his shirt collar, swiftly pressing their mouths together in a quick kiss, little more than a peck. “It's not all that good.”

Noel huffed, grabbing Ruben's shoulders and rising on his knees to face the man at equal ground. “If you're going to do it, at least do it right.”

Their next kiss lasted longer, if only by a few seconds. Third time was the charm, when a inquisitive tongue came out, pressing into Noel's mouth. Noel let himself fall into it, let his mind turn off that last bit that the alcohol hadn't been able to.

It was... easy. The way they fit together, how they moved. For once Noel didn't have to feel self-conscious, worried that he was doing the wrong thing and making it less enjoyable for the other person. It just was. It was happening, and Noel was along for the ride.

All too soon he had to pull away for fear of trying to make it go further. He fell to the side, face first onto the bed and groaned, shifting so that his growing erection wasn't anymore uncomfortable underneath him. “I think that's enough for tonight.”

“I'm not going to lie,” Ruben said, close to his ear. He'd laid back, too, face up. “I'm a little drunk.”

Noel laughed. “Yeah, I'd say so.”

Ruben had already begun to nod off, so Noel scooched further away, more to keep himself from trying anything in his alcohol-tinged state of mind, rather than any dislike for Ruben. For the first time in over a week, he fell asleep quickly, with the very last thing his eyes seeing being the other man's face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of changing the summary. I suck at them though.


	14. Chapter 14

Noel's eyes were bleary in the morning, and rubbing them did little help clearing his sight in the dark room. He could hear Ruben snoring peacefully beside him, but even he was hard to see. The candle that Noel had left burning in the night had long since gone out.

His bladder made itself known, so he got off the bed as silently as possible, trying not to wake his sleeping bedmate. He shuffled out of the room and down the hallway with another scavenged candle, still unsure of turning on any lights, just in case.

The bathroom was small, with little room between the sink, the tub, and the toilet. A small amount of the morning light filtered in through the blinds. He set the candle on the back of the toilet and did his business, then washed his hands. He was glad the water still worked. He sniffed, then almost immediately retched at the putrid scent that attacked his nose.

He didn't know where it was coming from, whatever it was had been there a while, filling the bathroom with it's stench. Had something died in the walls? Was there a vent that led to the room upstairs he refused to go in? Or was there something in the bathroom he hadn't found yet?

He looked around, noticing a small closet next to the tub. Could there be something in there?

No, no, he'd checked it the day before when he was looking for supplies. It had a few towels inside, and it was where he had found the medical supplies. There were far too many shelves to allow for someone to stand comfortably, anyway. And, he didn't see why anything would get up in there when he and Ruben were just down the hall.

Still, he had to check. Something that stunk that bad could royally fuck them up.

Almost gagging by this point, he slowly reached for the handle of the pantry, his candle in front of his face for defense. He opened the door a crack, then further only to find nothing inside.

Well.

That was pointless. But it was still coming from _somewhere_. He didn't smell it yesterday and Ruben hadn't complained of anything.

It was as he was mulling over the thought of something dying in the walls, that he heard it, a silent, snuffling noise, coming from behind the shower curtain.

Oh. Oh no. He'd never checked there. He hadn't even thought about it.

Please, no.

But, it wasn't like he had been quiet, both yesterday and today. Infected where attracted by noise, right? At least, that's what he had seen.

A large part of him, most of him, really, wanted to go and get Ruben to check, but a small, niggling thought in the back of his mind told him he needed to man up sometime. He couldn't keep being useless, or Ruben  might eventually well and truly abandon him. He had to.

He had to.

He left the room, temporarily, grabbing the pipe he'd tossed to the floor when he and Ruben had started up their night of drinking. Ruben was still sleeping peacefully, now in the  middle of the bed, clutching Noel's pillow against him. Wonderful.

He went back to the bathroom, standing in front of the shower curtain and regretting each and everything he did- and didn't do- up until this point. Raising the pipe in one hand, he grabbed a fistful of the curtain and liner, shoving it back.

His voice caught in his throat, it was just as he thought. An infected man stood in the tub. Still clothed, Noel noticed. There was no way the infected didn't see him, he was turned, possibly even looking straight at him. His eyes were filmed over, the pupils almost completely white. His skin was covered in sores that oozed yellow pus, and his hair stuck on ends, patches of it missing. A large chunk had been torn out of his face, and his mouth hung open.

The infected man grunted, but did not move toward Noel.

Did... Did the man just greet him? Or was his mind playing tricks on him?

“Fuck, I need to piss.” Ruben muttered as he barged in, bumping into Noel, and that's when it all went to hell. The infected man locked onto the intruder and snarled viciously, his hands raising as he took a step forward, only for his knees to knock into the edge of the tub, and the infected went tumbling down with a growl, his hands clasping on Noel's shirt.

Noel screeched himself, elbowing Ruben hard in the stomach as they backed up, and then he felt hands on his arms, pulling him farther away and out the bathroom. The pipe was taken from his hand, and Ruben passed him in a blur.

Noel had to look away before the first strike was made, the image of Ruben with the pipe about to slam down on top of the infected man's head burned in his brain -the sound as his skull was crushed, broke to more and more pieces as Ruben hit him over and over again.

By the time he could look again, the bathroom was utterly destroyed, every white surface, even the mirror splattered with red and yellow. When Ruben turned to him, he looked no different than the surrounding area, the mess stopping just up his neck. He tossed the pipe to the side and rounded on Noel.

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Ruben hissed, pulling his shirt over his head. He used it to wipe the blood on his arms, but did little more than to smear it.

“I don't know!” Noel said, his voice going high. The panic had yet to dissipate.

“Did you bring it here?” Ruben accused, which only served to piss Noel off.

“Oh, yeah, Ruben, I'm just so far gone that I thought I'd give him a bath- he was already in there!”

“Then how the hell did we not notice it before?” Ruben's voice was gruff, his eyes hard, and Noel knew he was blaming him for it.

“Maybe you didn't do all that good of a check!”

“Don't you fucking put this on me. You've gone in and out of here who knows how many times. Why weren't you attacked then?”

Noel flinched back, then turned his gaze on the ground. Quieter, he said, “I don't know.”

“Damn it, Noel.”

“I don't know! Alright? I noticed him just a little while ago. And he didn't act as if I was there. I don't know what's wrong with me.”

That last part was whispered, and finally, Ruben deflated.

“Fuck. I guess, if anything, than maybe it's a good thing.”

Noel gave him a look. “Good? I'm some experiment, having who-knows-what done to me, and it's good?”

“Shit, Noel, at least you don't have to worry about them eating you anymore.”

“Do I... Do I at least still look like me?”

“Yes,” Ruben sighed. “You're a bit thinner, but you don't look like one of them.”

Noel let out a deep, shuddery breath.

Ruben set a hand on his shoulder, waiting until the other was ready to face him again. “Look, why don't you get some more sleep, alright? I'll... take care of this mess.”

Noel shook his head. “I'll help.”

Ruben didn't argue with him, and they got started. Noel went around, taking the legs as per Ruben's orders, grimacing at having to touch a dead body. Not exactly something that had ever been, or would have been, on his agenda. But.

He gave a humorless laugh, and when Noel noticed Ruben's curious look, he relented. “You know, I just experienced one of my worst nightmares- opening up the curtains to find someone actually behind it.”

Ruben snorted, then asked, “worse than all the shit going on now?”

“So much worse,” Noel joked. “Second to this, anyway.” He nodded his head to the man's legs that he had picked up, only now realizing just how... _soft_ he felt underneath his clothing. Like he was about to pull the skin, the muscle even, right off the bone, if it weren't for the pants covering them. Ruben had it worse, he got the shoulders and the busted up head that was dropping bits and pieces here and there with an audible _splat_. It was slow going, especially since Noel was trying to avoid all those pieces.

With nowhere else to toss the body, they took it out the front door and around the side, dumping it out of general sight. Noel didn't think they were staying much longer, as he would have pushed to get the decaying _thing_ further away than that.

But Ruben didn't say a word about it. It was like it was any other day to the man, which disturbed Noel to no end.

“Now that _that's_ done with,” Ruben started, “I'm going to hop into the shower.”

“Even with the... _bits_ still in there? And all the blood?” Noel winced at the thought, and imagined what the infected man could have left in the tub, as well. There was no way he was going in there again, even if it meant shitting outside.

Well, no, probably not. He didn't want to get attacked with his pants _literally_ down.

That is, if Ruben wasn't right and it had all been a fluke that the man didn't attack him _because_.

“There is a second bathroom.” Ruben stated, “On the second floor.”

“Are you sure it's safe?” Noel wasn't too sure, and he didn't want to go up there anyway, after what Ruben had told him. Not until he saw with his own eyes that the people were actually taken care of, which he had no intention of checking for himself. Ruben had shown that he could leave behind quite a bloodbath. The bathroom- exhibit one. Well, no, not even the first one. But he didn't want to think about it, the images were making him queasy.

“This really isn't how I wanted to start my day,” Ruben said instead, squinting as he looked around. “What kind of medicine did you find?”

That caught Noel off guard, and a sudden fear shot through his gut. “Did you get bit?”

Ruben huffed and pointed at his head. “Hangover. Fuck this day sucks already.”

With relief flooding him, Noel snorted.

“I'll see if I can't find something. Go get cleaned up, at least.”

Noel followed the man back inside, heading to the guestroom while Ruben stomped upstairs. Within minutes Noel could hear metal groaning, then the sound of the shower going. He went through his bags, knowing that he'd be able to find something somewhere, and by the time Ruben was coming back into the room, he had a bottle of pills in hand.

“This should work,” Noel tossed it to him, and Ruben caught it with ease. He downed two quickly.

“If I remember right, there should be a town a little further down the highway. We can try and get some fuel and supplies, maybe even a map.”

Noel could detect a hint of hopefulness in his voice, and he felt another sting of guilt. Their families were on either side of the country. Who were they supposed to go after, first? What if they took too long getting to one, and the other suffered in the worst possible way for it? He'd had dreams of his mother and father, infected like everyone else, shambling about and gnawing on each other and whatever that was in their reach- including him. It wasn't a reality that he wanted to have happen. But if Ruben decided he was going to go after his mom, who was he to stop him? If Ruben left him again, he'd likely end up dead.


End file.
